Susanne Schulz-Falster Catalogue Ten

incompatible with the concept of balanced trade and naval commerce, as
the interests of diVerent nations will always be mutually exclusive. In extremis
the diVerences will lead to war, which by deWnition damages the
trade balance of all combatants. Justi gives a detailed introduction to the
principles that characterise international trade, i.e. the proper balance between
free enterprise and state intervention. He concludes with an interesting
chapter on the trade of neutral powers in time of war, one of the basic
principles of international law.
Goldsmiths’–Kress 9482.4; Humpert 10090; OCLC records copies at Harvard,
the University of Wisconsin and Keio University.
Balance between State Intervention and Free Enterprise
160 JUSTI, Johann Heinrich Gottlob von. Die Grundfeste zu
der Macht und Glückseeligkeit der Staaten; oder ausführliche Vorstellung
der gesamten Policey-Wissenschaft. Königsberg und
Leipzig, Joh. H. Hartung, 1760, 1761. £3200
Two volumes, 4to, pp. [xxiv], 782, with Wve folding plates; [xvi], 651;
woodcut head and tail-pieces and initials; some light browning, due to
paper quality; entirely uncut in contemporary pale blue beech boards,
gilt-lettered spine label to spines, gilt supralibros to upper boards; a
little chipped, and corners bent; from a Swedish noble library.
First edition, uncommon, of Justi’s important comprehensive handbook of
cameralistic science, in particular public policy – his blueprint for the welfare
state. In it Justi presented a strikingly modern view of the proper balance
between free enterprise and state intervention. While he championed
the welfare state, and accepts the state’s responsibility for the moral and
economic conditions of life, in particular for everyone’s employment and
livelihood, he stopped short of advocating excessive state intervention. He
was aware of the inherent logic of economic phenomena, and attempted to
limit government interference in price and interest rate Wxing. Justi ‘saw the
practical argument for laissez-faire not less clearly than did A. Smith, and his
bureaucracy, while guiding and helping where necessary, was always ready
to eVace itself when no guidance or help seemed needed. Only he saw much
more clearly than did the latter all the obstacles that stood in the way of its
working according to design... (Schumpeter, p. 172). In his Grundfeste he
devotes much attention to government statistics, population and subsistence,
manufacturing industry and commerce, with the second volume concentrating
more on public and civic administration, including insurance,
Wre services, poor law etc.
Einaudi 3103; Goldsmiths’–Kress 9637.4; Humpert 8496; Menger c 50; RLIN
lists copies at Michigan, Princeton, and New York Public Library.
susanne schulz-falster rare books catalogue ten
161 JUSTI, Johann Heinrich Gottlob von. Die Natur und das
Wesen der Staaten, als die Grundwissenschaft der Staatskunst, der
Policey und aller Regierungswissenschaften, desgleichen als die
Quelle aller Gesetze. Berlin, Stettin und Leipzig, Joh. H. Rüdigers,
1760. £3000
8vo, pp. xiv, 488, [32] index; woodcut head and tail-pieces and initials;
contemporary full sheep, spine in compartments, gilt-lettered spine
label; head of spine repaired; a very clean and crisp copy from the
Donaueschingen Library.
First edition of Justi’s most explicit treatise on political philosophy. ‘An advocate
of enlightened despotism... he uses the postulate of the general happiness
to provide an ethical foundation for the welfare state and explains the
formation of the state by the social contract, entered into when the instinct
for self-preservation impelled men to renounce their freedom.’ In his work
he combines the tendencies of the mechanistic and rationalistic school represented
by WolV and Pufendorf with the more organic ideas of
Montesquieu. In his treatise he also intended to show that ‘all the sciences
embraced in the general sense of the term ‘cameralism’ are deductions from
a fundamental political philosophy (Small, p. 400).
Higgs 2415; Masui p. 916; Menger, c. 51; uncommon NUC, RLIN and OCLC
list copies at Harvard, Chicago, and Columbia.