Samuel Pufendorf, other than being the only person who can pull off that ridiculous name, is a very good legal philosopher, I must say. Exploring the history of legal philosophy lets one know exactly what the status quo was in various places in Europe at different times. Pufendorf wrote this in what is now Hamburg, which belonged to the Hanseatic League, which bleeds through in the writing.
I'd expected a lot more about the social contract and the justification of government, sovereignty and the imposing of duty upon subjects. However, Pufendorf pulls a fast one on the reader and instead just gives a thorough and solid basis of civil law instead. Perhaps I was reading some kind of edited version, but I don't mind - it means a lot to know when a contract is a contract, and why that matters.
As far as international law goes, steer clear of this book. However, the foundations of legal expertise are more than present in the book and they're written in a cogent and laconic way that I always respect. It's a bit of a branching into law theory as opposed to constitutional law and philosophy, but a welcome one at that.
7/10
Incredible. So simple.
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