PUFFENDORF, SAMUEL, a distinguished juridical writer and historian, was born in 1632 at Chemnitz, a small town in Saxony, where his father, Elias Puffendorf, was a Lutheran clergyman. He received his elementary education from his father, and studied the humanities at the school of Grimma, theology at Leipzig, and philosophy under Erhard Weigel at Jena. The teaching of Weigel was then exciting considerable attention in Germany, and Puffendorf seems to have eagerly availed himself of his instructions. It was here he seems to have first applied himself to the study of the law of nature on which he was destined to become an eminent writer. Full of the philosophy of Descartes, of the jurisprudence of Grotius, and of the rigorous method of Weigel, he offered his services to his country. His brother Isaac, who was employed by Oxenstierna in lucrative and confidential offices under the government of Sweden, prevailed upon him to seek his fortune in foreign diplomacy; and with that intent he became tutor to the son of the Swedish ambassador at Copenhagen. He had hardly joined the legation when a rupture occurring between the governments of Denmark and Sweden, the embassy was detained as prisoners for eight months in the Danish capital. Puffendorf employed his leisure in reducing to writing, with occasional reflections of his own, the principles of general law contained in the works of Grotius, Hobbes, and other writers of that class. He published this work shortly afterwards, on visiting Holland, with the title of Elementa Jurisprudentiae Universalis, 1660. This crabbled yet original work was dedicated to the elector-palatine Charles Louis, which laid the foundation, perhaps more than the substantial merits of his book would warrant, of the subsequent fortunes of the author. In the university of Heidelberg, which had been gradually falling into decay, Charles Louis founded a professorship of the law of nature and of nations, and chose Puffendorf to fill the chair. He had no sooner opened his course in 1661 than the class-room was crowded with eager listeners to the new professor of law. Flattered by this encouragement, he pursued his juridical studies with unabated zeal; and shortly afterwards published anonymously, at Geneva, Severini de Mozambano, De Statu Imperii
Germanici. This book exhibited in somewhat strong colours the absurdities and incongruities of that strange compound called the Germanic empire, urging at the same time certain practical remedies for the grievous abuses which had grown up under it. The work created great excitement throughout Europe, and particularly in Austria, where it was put upon the Index Expurgatorium, and the executioner was ordered to burn it. Puffendorf defended the work without daring to declare himself the author. The work was printed again and again, and translated into almost all the languages of modern Europe. Meanwhile Puffendorf found his position so uncomfortable that, to avert the possible consequences of the stir, he was glad to accept in 1670, from Charles XI. of Sweden, the chair of the law of nations at the university of Lund, then recently founded. He had hardly occupied his new position two years, when the great work on which his reputation now chiefly rests made its appearance. It bore the title De Jure Naturæ et Gentium. It was much more scientifically constructed than the De Jure Belli et Pacis of Grotius. Puffendorf, though without the genius or learning of his master, commences with the law of nature, discusses the subject as applied to individuals, and finally investigates the numerous complicated questions which emerge in the intercourse of nations. The new views contained in the work were virulently assailed by some of his contemporaries, and as enthusiastically admired by others, while the tide of his reputation steadily arose until it flooded over Europe. A few years afterwards he removed to Stockholm at the request of the King of Sweden, who appointed him his historiographer, and bestowed upon him the title of Counsellor of State. In this official capacity he published Commentarii de rebus Suecicis ab expeditione Gustavi Adolphi usque ad abdicationem Christianæ, Utrecht, 1686. The theme was promising, but Puffendorf was more familiar with the law of nations than he was with the rich details of their history. The work had gained the favour, however, of Frederic William, Elector of Brandenburg; for in 1688 he invited him to Berlin, and, with the consent of the King of Sweden, employed him to write the history of his life and reign. He was again made counsellor of state, and what was more to the purpose, he received an annual pension of 2000 crowns. Accordingly, there appeared in due time Commentarii de Rebus Gestis Frederici Wilelmi Magni, Electoris Brandenburgici; and we hope the Elector of Brandenburg received the performance with great enthusiasm, for it has to be recorded that nobody else did. His engagement at Berlin being merely temporary, he purposed returning to Stockholm; but as the King of Sweden had raised him to the dignity of a baron while resident at Berlin, and the climate being less severe in the southern metropolis, Puffendorf preferred postponing his journey northward. He died at Berlin on the 26th October 1694.
Puffendorf's works, which were somewhat voluminous, will be found in a detailed list appended to his Life in the Biographie Universelle.