Of the Law of Nature And Nations
by Samuel Pufendorf
On the Law of Nature and Nations was originally published in 1672, and proposed a system of private, public, and international law based on natural law. It was written by Baron Samuel von Pufendorf (1632–1694), a German political philosopher, statesman, and historian.[1] The son of a Saxon clergyman, he had originally intended to pursue a career in the church, but after studying theology at the University of Leipzig, his interests shifted to politics, law, and philosophy. In 1658 he became a tutor to a minister to King Charles X of Sweden and three years later he was granted a chair at the University of Heidelberg for the law of nature and nations, the first of its kind in the world.[2]
Two years after accepting an offer from the King of Sweden to teach at the University of Lund, Pufendorf published On the Law of Nature and Nations.[3] Pufendorf was highly critical of those who abused power, whether they did so through the state or the church, and he proposed that international law should not be restricted to Christendom and instead respect the rights of all men.[4] It was highly influential, not only in Germany, where it is said to have contributed to the Enlightenment during the eighteenth century, but also in Europe at large and eventually the United States. Pufendorf’s grounding of political concepts in natural law made him a person of interest to future American leaders such as Thomas Jefferson, James, Madison, and Alexander Hamilton,[5] and ensured that his legacy will continue to be passed on.
Bibliographic Information
Author: Samuel Pufendorf; translated.
Title: Of the Law of Nature And Nations: Eight Books.
Published: Oxford: Printed by L. Lichfield, for A. and J. Churchil, 1710.
Edition: Second edition; [24], 724, [22] pages.
Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library
Listed in the Jefferson Inventory of Wythe's Library as Puffendorf. and given by Thomas Jefferson to James Dinsmore. The precise title and work are unknown. Brown's Bibliography[6] includes the choice of either the 1749 English edition or the 1740 French edition of Pufendorf's work based in part on the copies Jefferson sold to the Library of Congress[7] and also on citations from Wythe's arguments in Bolling v. Bolling.[8] George Wythe's Library[9] on LibraryThing notes "Precise work/edition unknown. Probably an English-language edition of Pufendorf's The law of nature and nations, but could also be one of several possible works in Latin or English."
Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy
View this book in William & Mary's online catalog.
References
- ↑ Encyclopedia Britannica, s.v. "Pufendorf, Samuel von."
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Alfred Dufour, The Politics of Discretion. Pufendorf and the Acceptance of Natural Law (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1965), 1007.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Bennie Brown, "The Library of George Wythe of Williamsburg and Richmond," (unpublished manuscript, May, 2012) Microsoft Word file. Earlier edition available at: https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/handle/10288/13433
- ↑ E. Millicent Sowerby, Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, 2nd ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983), 2:69-70 [no.1406-no.1407].
- ↑ Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson and Bolling v. Bolling: Law and the Legal Profession in Pre-Revolutionary America, ed. Bernard Schwartz, with Barbara Wilcie Kern, R.B. Bernstein (San Marino, Calif.: Huntington Library; New York: New York University School of Law, c1997).
- ↑ LibraryThing, s. v. "Member: George Wythe," accessed on June 28, 2013, http://www.librarything.com/profile/GeorgeWythe
