‎"PUFENDORF, SAMUEL von.‎
‎Le droit de la nature et de gens, ou systeme general des principes le plus importans de la morale, de la jurisprudence, et de la politique. Traduit du Latin par Jean Barbeyrac. Second edition, revûé & augmentée considerablement - [THE STATE OF NATURE IS PEACE]‎

‎Amsterdam, Pierre de Coup, 1712. 4to. In contemporary full calf with five raised bands. Binding with considerable wear, scratches, wormholes and stains to boards, upper and lower compartment on spine with loss of leather, corner bumped and with loss of leather, especially upper corner on frontboard. Hinges weak. Small worm-tract to outer margin of first 250 ff., otherwise internally nice and clean. (2), CXXII, (4), 613, (1), (4), 506, (32), 28 pp. + frontispiece. ‎

Reference : 61922

‎Second edition of the first French translation of Pufendorf's magnum opus, one of the fundamental works of natural law. In this milestone work of political and legal thought, Pufendorf presents his system of universal law, which profoundly revised the natural law theories of Hobbes and Grotius. In his teaching, that the will of the state is but the sum of the individual wills that constitute it, he shows himself a precursor of Rousseau and of the ""Social Contract"".""It is a complete system of public, private and international law. Against Hobbes's view he contended that the state of nature was one of peace, not war, and heurged the view that international law... existed between all nations... [a work] of great importance"" (David Walker, The Oxford Companion to Law).""In the 'De jure naturae et gentium' Pufendorf took up in great measure the theories of Grotius and sought to complete them by means of the doctrines of Hobbes and of his own ideas. His first important point was that natural law does not extend beyond the limits of this life and that it confines itself to regulating external acts. He disputed Hobbes's conception of the state of nature and concluded that the state of nature is not one of war but of peace. But this peace is feeble and insecure, and if something else does not come to its aid it can do very little for the preservation of mankind.As regards public law Pufendorf, while recognizing in the state (civitas) a moral person (persona moralis), 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, in which he scarcely gives proof of historical insight, he shows himself as one of the precursors of 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."" (Encyclopedia Brit.).Graesse V, 504Brunet only mention the later 1720- and 1734-edition.‎