Jus gentium methodo scientifica pertractatum / by Christian Wolff ...

PREFACE
THE republication of the classic works connected with the history
and development of international law was undertaken by the Carnegie
Institution of Washington in 1906, at the suggestion of the undersigned,
then Solicitor for the Department of State, under whose supervision as
General Editor the series has since been published. On January 1, 1917,
the project was transferred to the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace, and the publication of the series is being continued by
the Endowment's Division of International Law.
The present work, Wolff's jus gentium methodo scientifica pertractatum
is edited with an Introduction by the eminent jurist and
publicist, Otfried Nippold, President of the Supreme Court of Justice
of the Territory of the Saar. An English translation of the text of
Wolff's treatise has been made expressly for the series by the distinguished
authority on Roman Law, Professor Joseph H. Drake of the
University of Michigan; and, for the sake of convenience, there has
been added an índex. For the likeness of Wolff which appears in
Volume I the Endowment is indebted to Professor Dr. M a x Fleischmann,
Rector of the University of Halle, where Wolff began his professorial
career, and the University Senate.
The reasons for including Wolff's treatise on the law of nations
are sufficiently set forth by Dr. Nippold in his Introduction. The
photographic reproduction, made from a copy in the possession of the
Endowment's Library, places the work within the hands of any and
all countries, and Professor Drake's faithful tran.slation of the text
makes its mastery an easy matter to the English-speaking world.
One reason for republishing the classics of International Law is the
difficulty in procuring the texts in convenient form for scientific study;
the libraries in the United States have been searched, with the result that
few of the earlier works were to be found. Another reason is that some
of the works selected for republication have never been transiated finto
English. The American publicist is therefore at a disadvantage in
consulting works of admitted authority, and when found they are
virtually sealed books to all but trained Latinists. The specialist is
thus forced to rely upon summary statements and references to them
to be found in treatises on International Law, or is driven to examine
them in European libraries, often a difficult task, while the general
reader is practically barred from the stores of knowledge locked up in
the earlier works on the Law of Nations. The same difficulty exists
Latin-America, Japan, and in a lesser degree in many European
countries.