ĕl bärôn` fən p`fəndôrf), 1632–94, German jurist and historian. He is especially noted as an early theorist of international law. Educated in the works of Thomas Hobbes Hobbes, Thomas (hŏbz), 1588–1679, English philosopher, grad. Magdalen College, Oxford, 1608...... Click the link for more information. and Hugo Grotius Grotius, Hugo (grō`shəs), 1583–1645, Dutch jurist and humanist, whose Dutch name appears as Huigh de Groot.
..... Click the link for more information. , Pufendorf maintained that the law of nations is a branch of natural law natural law, theory that some laws are basic and fundamental to human nature and are discoverable by human reason without reference to specific legislative enactments or judicial decisions.
..... Click the link for more information. , and that to treat it as positive law (i.e., law decreed by humans) is erroneous. His conception of natural law was based on the notion of humans as social animals, and he argued that each individual had the right to equality and freedom. The natural relations of nations (as of men) are peaceable, and war is justified only to punish an infraction of international law after attempts at pacific redress have failed. He supported the right of the state power over any ecclesiastical claim for secular authority, and his work on this subject became the foundation of church and state relations in 18th-century Germany. These views are developed in his Elementa jurisprudentiae universalis [elements of universal jurisprudence] (1661), De jure naturae et gentium [on the law of nature and of nations] (1672), and in De habitu religionis Christianae ad vitam civilem [of the power of the Christian religion in relation to the life of a citizen] (1687). His chief historical work was De statu imperii Germanici [on the condition of the German Empire] (1667), in which he described Germany as a monstrous aggregate lacking a strong imperial power. Pufendorf taught jurisprudence at the universities of Heidelberg (1661–68) and Lund, in Sweden (1668–77). In his later years, he served as royal historiographer at Stockholm and Berlin.
Pufendorf, Samuel, baron von
(born Jan. 8, 1632, Dorfchemnitz, near Thalheim, Saxony—died Oct. 13, 1694, Berlin) German jurist and historian. The son of a pastor, he left the study of theology for jurisprudence, philosophy, and history. He taught at the Universities of Heidelberg (1661–68) and Lund (1670–77). His Elements of Universal Jurisprudence (1660) and Of the Law and Nature of Nations (1672), which were influenced by Hugo Grotius and Thomas Hobbes, departed from the traditional approach of the medieval theologians to natural law in arguing that there is no such creature as a natural slave—that all men have a right to equality and freedom. His views were attacked by conservative Protestant theologians in Sweden and Germany, and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz dismissed him as “a man not a lawyer and scarcely a philosopher at all.” Nevertheless, he was protected by the Swedish government, and he became the official historiographer to Charles XI of Sweden (1677–88) and to the elector of Brandenburg (1688–94).
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