In-8 XL 361 frontespizio con bella vignetta allegorica calcografica e motto “Coniunctis viribus”. Qualche testatina. Piena pergamena con tassello al dorso. Storico e giurista tedesco (Chemnitz 1632 – Berlino 1694). Tra i massimi esponenti del giusnaturalismo (De iure naturae et gentium, 1672), fu consigliere di Federico Guglielmo di Prussia e poi segretario di Stato in Svezia (1677-86). Diede importanti contributi agli studi della legge, alla luce delle realtà politiche affiorate dalla Guerra dei Trent’anni. Quand’era ancora studente di etica e di politica, egli rimase impressionato dalla teoria giusnaturalistica elaborata da Ugo Grozio; ma su di lui influirono molto anche le teorie di Francisco Suarez. Sempre fedele ai principi della religione luterana, Pufendorf si propone l’ambizioso obiettivo di armonizzare i primi nuclei del pensiero politico pre-illuministico con la teologia cristiana. Nel 1660, egli fu nominato docente presso l’università di Heidelberg e nel 1667 si trasferì presso l’università di Lund, dove vide la luce il suo importantissimo scritto del 1672 De Jure naturae et gentium (La legge di natura e degli Stati), in otto libri. In-8 XL 361. Title-page with beautifull allegoric view and motto “Coniunctis viribus”. Some engraved head-peace.Full vellum. Pufendorf, Samuel (1632-1694). German jurist and historian. He is especially noted as an early theorist of international law. Educated in the works of Thomas Hobbes and Hugo Grotius , Pufendorf maintained that the law of nations is a branch of natural law , 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.