The present state of Germany / Samuel Pufendorf ; translated by Edmund Bohun, 1696 ; edited and with an introduction by Michael J. Seidler.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pufendorf, Samuel, Freiherr von, 1632-1694.

Contributor:

Seidler, Michael J., 1950-

Bohun, Edmund.

Series:

Pufendorf, Samuel, Freiherr von, 1632-1694. English. 2002. Works.

Natural law and enlightenment classics

The works of Samuel Pufendorf

Standardized Title:

De statu Imperii Germanici. English

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Constitutional history--Holy Roman Empire.

Constitutional history.

Constitutional law--Holy Roman Empire.

Constitutional law.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (313 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Indianapolis : Liberty Fund, c2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Although "The Present State of Germany" was first made available in English over three centuries ago, it has been virtually unavailable in English since the period of the American Founding.By 1696, Pufendorf was well known in England as a staunch defender of the Protestant cause and as one of the renovators of natural law. His writings were familiar to such luminaries as Locke and figured prominently in James Tyrell's "Patriarcha non Monarcha" (1681).The editor of this volume, Michael J. Seidler, describes this work of Pufendorf as "an account of German constitutional law detailing the historical relations between the Emperor and the Estates as well as an examination of the legitimating foundations of Imperial authority, a general analysis of the nature and requirements of political sovereignty, and a reconceptualization of the different forms of political order. . . . Its central distinction between so-called regular and irregular states, resting on the question of the locus of sovereignty, demotes the traditional political categories into mere administrative possibilities and thereby creates a more general problematic of freedom and authority with which we are still wrestling today. That is, it raises, at a very early stage in the contractarian tradition which we have inherited, the basic question of how effective political unity is compatible with competing values of diversity and individual liberty."Samuel Pufendorf (1632-1694) was one of the most important figures in early-modern political thought. An exact contemporary of Locke and Spinoza, he transformed the natural law theories of Grotius and Hobbes, developed striking ideas of toleration and of the relationship between church and state, and wrote extensive political histories and analyses of the constitution of the German empire.Edmund Bohun (1645-1699) was an English press license official and political writer who ended up as chief justice of South Carolina.Michael J. Seidler is Professor of Philosophy at Western Kentucky University.Knud Haakonssen is Professor of Intellectual History at the University of Sussex, England.

Contents:

""Samuel Pufendorf, The Present State of Germany ""; ""Front Matter ""; ""Title Page ""; ""Copyright Details ""; ""Table of Contents ""; ""Introduction, p. ix ""; ""A Note on the Text, p. xxix ""; ""Acknowledgments, p. xxxv ""; ""Pufendorf's Preface to the First Edition of 1667 ""; ""Preface to the Second Edition (1706), p. 9 ""; ""To the Reader, p. 15 ""; ""The Contents, p. 17 ""; ""Chapter I. Of the Origene of the German Empire, p. 25 ""; ""Chapter II. Of the Members of which the present German Empire is composed, p. 49 ""; ""Chapter III. Of the Origene of the States of the Empire

and by what Degrees they arrived to that Power they now have, p. 80 """"Chapter IV. Of the Head of the German Empire, the Emperor, and of the Election and the Electors, p. 96 ""; ""Chapter V. Of the Power of the Emperor, as it now stands limited by Treaties; and the Laws and Customs of the Empire; and the Rights of the States of Germany, p. 111 ""; ""Chapter VI. Of the Form of the German Empire, p. 159 ""; ""Chapter VII. Of the Strength and Diseases of the German Empire, p. 179 ""; ""Chapter VIII. Of the German State-Interest, p. 210 ""; ""Bibliography, p. 249 ""; ""Index, p. 259 ""

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 249-258) and index.

ISBN:

1-61487-854-4