Page:Marvin, Legal Bibliography, 1847.djvu/606

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PUL last edition of which appeared in 2 vols., 12mo., Paris, 1822. Trans- lated into English, by J. Spavin, 2 vols., 8vo., London, 1716. An in- fraction of the Law of Nations, by casting Puffendorf into prison, is said to have first led him to the contemplation of the rights and duties of Sovereigns and States. In 1658, upon the breaking out of war between Denmark and Sweden, the author was employed as private instructor to the children of the Swedish Ambassador, at Copenhagen. Here he was imprisoned for eight months by the Danes, and, during this time, being denied the use of books, he busied himself by writing The Ekmenls of Universal Jurisprudence. Soon after his release from confinement, he was called to the Chair of a Professorship, at Heidleberg, and afterwards to the University of Lund, in Sweden, where he lectured upon the Law of Nature and Nations, using Grotius as his text book. Discovering what he conceived to be defects in the Treatise, De Jure Belli ac Pads, of Grotius, and, being encouraged to make his views known, he wrote his work, De Jure Naturx et Gentium, which was received with great favor and commented upon by the learned throughout all Europe. " Puffen- dorf 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. Without the genius of Grotius, and with very inferior learning, he has yet treated this subject with sound sense, with clear method, with extensive and accurate knowledge, and with a copious- ness of detail, sometimes, indeed, tedious, but always instructive and satisfactory." "Whatever is objectionable to Grotius upon the ground of profuse quotations, which often have little or no applicability to the sub- ject under consideration, is equally so to Puffendorf, whose volume is chiefly confined to a discussion of Natural Law and ethics. That part of his work, says Mr. Wheaton, which treats of International Law, properly so called, comprises the five last chapters of his eighth book, consisting of little else than a compilation from Grotius and his com- mentators, unenlightened by a single ray of original genius or sound criticism, and in which we seek in vain for those complete and precise details, which are justly regarded, by more modern publicists as essen- tial to the practical application of general principles. These defects would seem almost to justify the severe judgment of Leibnitz, who calls Puffendorf FiV parum juris consultus, et minime philosophus. Wheaton's Hist. L, N. 88, 89 ; 1 Kent, 17 ; Williams' L. S. 74; Red. Hist. L. N. 43; Hoff. Leg. Stu. 123; Mack. Disc. 53-58; G Maule & Sel. 103. PULLING, ALEXANDER. A Practical Treatise on the Laws, Customs, and Regulations of the City and Port of London, as settled by Charter, Usage, and By-Law or Statute. 2d ed. 8vo. London. 1843. " The author has not confined his researches to the city laws, but has stated the modern regulations and commereial usages of the city; thus 594