Difference between revisions of "Institutes of Natural Law"

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===by Thomas Rutherforth===
 
===by Thomas Rutherforth===
 
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This is the first edition of Rutherford's sole legal work, drawing heavily on Grotius, and prompting Holdsworth's observation that is was "the only book written by an Englishman which can be compared with Burlamaqui's [Principles of Natural and Political Law]." <ref> Holdsworth </ref>
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[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Rutherforth Thomas Rutherforth] (1712-1771) was an English moral philosopher, regius professor of divinity at Cambridge, and archdeacon of Essex.<ref>William Holdsworth, ''A History of English Law'' (London: Methuen & Co., Sweet and Maxwell, 1938), 12:643.</ref> Rutherforth taught physical science privately at Cambridge and he had a strong interest in natural and moral philosophy.<ref>John Gascoigne, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/24367 “Rutherforth, Thomas (1712–1771)"] in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford University Press, 2004- ), accessed October 21, 2013.</ref> His lectures on the topic were ultimately published as the ''Institutes of Natural Law'' in two volumes in 1754 and 1756, respectively.<ref>Ibid.</ref> The work "draws heavily on Grotius and considers morality chiefly in terms of its social consequences."<ref>Ibid.</ref> "''Institutes of Natural Law'' was a work widely read and cited among those of the founding generation" of the United States.<ref>Gary L. McDowell, [http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/ajj37&collection=journals&page=57#64 “The Limits of Natural Law: Thomas Rutherforth and the American Legal Tradition”], ''The American Journal of Jurisprudence'' 37 (1992): 58, accessed Oct. 21, 2013.</ref> In fact, the founders relied on the treatise while creating and ratifying the Constitution; the work was also used in early legal education in the United States and as authority in actual cases.<ref>McDowell, “The Limits of Natural Law: Thomas Rutherforth and the American Legal Tradition,” 59-60.</ref><br />
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<blockquote> Together with Rutherforth's teaching in natural philosophy went a strong interest in moral philosophy, and his lectures in this area were published in two volumes as the ''Institutes of Natural Law'' (1754 and 1756). It is a work that draws heavily on Grotius and considers morality chiefly in terms of its social consequences, a form of utilitarianism that was later to influence his younger Cambridge colleague William Paley. Earlier, in ''An Essay on the Nature and Obligations of Virtue'' (1744), Rutherforth offered a critique of the other dominant schools of moral philosophy active within Britain at the time, chiefly the hedonist views of Mandeville, the rationalist views of Clarke and Balguy, Shaftesbury's theory of the disinterestedness of virtue, and the Hutchesonian conception of an innate moral sense. As an alternative he developed a form of Christian utilitarianism, arguing that good actions advanced one's happiness in both this world and the next. Such a view prompted the strictures of Catharine Cockburn who maintained that ‘by denying … to the duties of religion or virtue any foundation but the prospect of a reward; he highly injures and dishonours both’ (''Works'', 2.105). <ref> John Gascoigne, ‘Rutherforth, Thomas (1712–1771)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/24367, accessed 7 June 2013] </ref> </blockquote>
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Rutherforth’s work brought him recognition and career advancement. He served as chaplain to Frederick, Prince of Wales, and later the princess dowager for a time. He married Charlotte Elizabeth Abdy whose father was Sir William Abdy, fourth baronet of Albyns,<ref>Gascoigne, John, “Rutherforth, Thomas.”</ref> and became regius chair of divinity at Cambridge in 1756.<ref>Ibid.</ref>
  
 
==Bibliographic Information==
 
==Bibliographic Information==
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==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==
 
==Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy==
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Bound in contemporary calf; the Newton Hall set with the ownership signatures "Babington." Purchased from Meyer Boswell Books, Inc.
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Bound in contemporary calf; the Newton Hall set with the ownership signatures "Babington." Purchased from Meyer Boswell Books, Inc.<br />
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View this book in [https://catalog.swem.wm.edu/law/Record/3266233 William & Mary's online catalog].
 
==External Links==
 
==External Links==
 
[http://books.google.com/books?id=62tHAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Institutes+of+Natural+Law&hl=en&sa=X&ei=yEPlUfvtItbh4APssYCwBg&ved=0CD0Q6AEwAQ Google Books]
 
[http://books.google.com/books?id=62tHAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Institutes+of+Natural+Law&hl=en&sa=X&ei=yEPlUfvtItbh4APssYCwBg&ved=0CD0Q6AEwAQ Google Books]

Revision as of 16:18, 28 October 2013

by Thomas Rutherforth

Thomas Rutherforth (1712-1771) was an English moral philosopher, regius professor of divinity at Cambridge, and archdeacon of Essex.[1] Rutherforth taught physical science privately at Cambridge and he had a strong interest in natural and moral philosophy.[2] His lectures on the topic were ultimately published as the Institutes of Natural Law in two volumes in 1754 and 1756, respectively.[3] The work "draws heavily on Grotius and considers morality chiefly in terms of its social consequences."[4] "Institutes of Natural Law was a work widely read and cited among those of the founding generation" of the United States.[5] In fact, the founders relied on the treatise while creating and ratifying the Constitution; the work was also used in early legal education in the United States and as authority in actual cases.[6]

Rutherforth’s work brought him recognition and career advancement. He served as chaplain to Frederick, Prince of Wales, and later the princess dowager for a time. He married Charlotte Elizabeth Abdy whose father was Sir William Abdy, fourth baronet of Albyns,[7] and became regius chair of divinity at Cambridge in 1756.[8]

Bibliographic Information

Author: Thomas Rutherforth, (1712-1771)

Title: Institutes of Natural Law: Being the Substance of a Course of Lectures on Grotius De Jure Belli et Pacis

Published: Cambridge: Printed by J. Bentham, printer to the University, for W. Thurlbourn, bookseller in Cambridge, 1754-1756.

Edition:

Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library

Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy

Bound in contemporary calf; the Newton Hall set with the ownership signatures "Babington." Purchased from Meyer Boswell Books, Inc.

View this book in William & Mary's online catalog.

External Links

Google Books

References

  1. ↑ William Holdsworth, A History of English Law (London: Methuen & Co., Sweet and Maxwell, 1938), 12:643.
  2. ↑ John Gascoigne, “Rutherforth, Thomas (1712–1771)" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004- ), accessed October 21, 2013.
  3. ↑ Ibid.
  4. ↑ Ibid.
  5. ↑ Gary L. McDowell, “The Limits of Natural Law: Thomas Rutherforth and the American Legal Tradition”, The American Journal of Jurisprudence 37 (1992): 58, accessed Oct. 21, 2013.
  6. ↑ McDowell, “The Limits of Natural Law: Thomas Rutherforth and the American Legal Tradition,” 59-60.
  7. ↑ Gascoigne, John, “Rutherforth, Thomas.”
  8. ↑ Ibid.
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