"THE WILL OF THE STATE IS BUT THE SUM OF THE INDIVIDUAL WILLS THAT CONSTITUTE IT": PUFENDORF'S IMPORTANT LAW OF NATURE AND NATIONS, 1717 FOLIO EDITION

PUFENDORF, Samuel. Of the Law of Nature and Nations. Eight Books. London: R. Sare, R. Bonwicke, et al., 1717. Folio (9 by 14 inches), contemporary full brown calf, raised bands, red morocco spine label. $1800.

Third edition in English of Pufendorf’s landmark work on the law of nature and nations, De Jure Naturae et Gentium, a handsome folio edition.

A landmark in the German Enlightenment, "the De Jure Naturae is a large work in eight books which presents an entire system of jurisprudence, private, public and international, based on the conception of natural law. Pufendorf was a disciple of Grotius, and was considered of first rank by Kent" (NYU 578). Pufendorf "teaches that the will of the state is but the sum of the individual wills that constitute it, and that this association explains the state. In this a priori conception… he shows himself as one of the precursors of J. J. Rousseau and of the Contrat social. Pufendorf powerfully defends the idea that international law is not restricted to Christendom, but constitutes a common bond between all nations because all nations form part of humanity" (Britannica). First published in German in 1672 (and in English in 1703), this work was "received with great favor and commented upon by the learned throughout all Europe. Pufendorf restored natural law to that superiority which belonged to it, and with great propriety treated the Law of Nations as only one main branch of the parent stock" (Marvin 593-4). With chapters on such fundamental subjects as the will of man, the natural state of man, the law of nature, civil societies, moral actions, the structure of government, sovereignty, commonwealths, liberty, "Despotical Power," "All Men are by Nature Equal," "The Mutual Duties of Humanity," "Speech, and the Obligation which attends it," property, contracts, war and peace, and self-defense. With gap in pagination between pages 390-453; text complete.

Interior clean and fine, contemporary calf binding with light rubbing and expert repairs.