14 
Indiana University Studies 
there was a social interest in the maintenance of the status 
quo. The latter was a paramount social interest in Greek, 
Roman, and English history before the last part of the nine- 
teenth century. In modern times numerous social interests 
have come to be recognized. When a new social interest shall 
be recognized is determined by the people of a state, but they 
have to express themselves thru their representatives in the 
halls of legislation and their judges on the bench. Hence 
the determination of a new social interest is a difficult mat- 
ter. Society is made up of many conflicting and overlapping- 
groups, like capitalists, laborers, farmers, consumers, pro- 
ducers, the learned, the ignorant, and the like. Representa- 
tives may be governed by self-interest, and judges may be in- 
fluenced by bias and prejudice. Under such circumstances 
how can a new social interest be determined? What is the 
social interest, for example, in such matters as the tariff, 
taxation, child labor, liquor, and drugs? Yet there are many 
social interests about the recognition of which there can be 
no doubt. In a complex modern world if many social in- 
terests were not recognized and protected life would be in- 
tolerable ; the human race, thru warfare, degeneracy, 
ignorance, and laziness, would soon destroy itself. Law, then, 
is a scheme of social control for the protection of those social 
interests which society thinks important enough to be pro- 
tected. 
The following is a classification by Pound of all the social 
interests which he thinks that Anglo-American law has rec- 
ognized up to the present time r 11 
A. General security 
1. Personality 
a. Physical person 
(1) Direct injury 
(2) Bodily health 
(3) Freedom of will 
(4) Mental health 
( 5 ) N ervou s system 
(6) Privacy 
b. Honor and reputation 
c. Belief and opinion 
2. Domestic relations 
a. Parental 
b. Marital 
11 3 Dwnster House Papers, 3-4 ; 28 Harv. L. Rev. 343 s 445. 
> — Physical existence 
— Social existence 
— Spiritual existence 
