Excerpt from On Primitive InstitutionsTwo radically distinct methods of regimentation are found extant in the world and recorded in the history of the past, these may be known as the tribal system and the national sys tem. By the tribal system men are organized on the basis of kinship, real or artificial. By the national system men are organized on the basis of territory. Thus kinship groups are found in tribal society, territorial groups in national society. In history, transitional forms are found, the most important of which are feudal. Thus, feudal society exhibits both methods, and forms a connecting link in the evolution of tribal into national government.In savagery, families are organized into clans, and clans into tribes, and tribes into confederacies. Sometimes, intervening units are discovered, but the family, clan, tribe and confederacy are always discovered. In barbarism families, gentes, tribes.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.