Early life[edit]
Maine was the son of Dr. James Maine, of Kelso, Roxburghshire. He was educated at Christ's Hospital, where a boarding house was named after him in 1902. From there he went up to Pembroke College, Cambridge, in 1840. At Cambridge, he was noted as a classical scholar and also won the Chancellor's Gold Medal for poetry in 1842.[3] He won a Craven scholarship and graduated as senior classic in 1844, being also senior chancellor's medallist in classics.[4] He was a Cambridge Apostle.
Shortly afterwards, he accepted a tutorship at Trinity Hall. In 1847, he was appointed regius professor of civil law,[5] and he was called to the bar three years later; he held this chair till 1854. Meanwhile, in 1852 he had become one of the readers appointed by the Inns of Court.