ABSTRACT
Within the small circle of the Greek city the distinction of state and society lay concealed. It might be interesting to trace the rise of this distinction in the political consciousness of later ages, but it must suffice to say that the distinction is an essential one and that its validity is shown by the incoherence of the logic which obscures or denies it. The term state accents indeed the political aspect of the whole, and is opposed to the notion of an anarchical society. But it includes the entire hierarchy of institutions by which life is determined, from the family to the trade, and from the trade to the Church and the University. The political society is based on the distinctive organization of law; other societies develop quasi-legal or contract organizations which in turn the political society, as possessing the supremest form of organization, tends to inter-organize.
