birth-state

Updated: June 28, 2025

As early as the beginning of the fourteenth century, the current language concerning the birth-state of men, though visibly intended to be identical with that of Ulpian and his contemporaries, has assumed an altogether different form and meaning. The preamble to the celebrated ordinance of King Louis Hutin enfranchising the serfs of the royal domains would have sounded strangely to Roman ears.

Sir Henry Sumner Maine - Ancient Law: Its Connection to the History of Early Society