Emer de Vattel | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1714-04-25)25 April 1714 |
| Died | 28 December 1767(1767-12-28) (aged 53) |
| Philosophical work | |
| School | International law |
| Main interests | International law |
| Notable works | The Law of Nations |
Emmerich de Vattel (French pronunciation:[vatɛl] 25 April 1714 – 28 December 1767[1]) was a philosopher, diplomat, and jurist.
Vattel's work profoundly influenced the development of international law.[2][3] He is most famous for his 1758 workThe Law of Nations. This work was his claim to fame and won him enough prestige to be appointed as a councilor to the court ofFrederick Augustus II of Saxony. Vattel combinednaturalist legal reasoning andpositivist legal reasoning.[2]
The son of a Protestant minister, Vattel was born at Couvet, Neuchâtel, on the 25th of April 1714.[3] He studied classics and philosophy atBasel andGeneva.[3] During his early years his favorite pursuit wasphilosophy and, having carefully studied the works ofLeibniz andChristian Wolff, he published in 1741 a defence of Leibniz's system againstJean-Pierre de Crousaz. In the same year Vattel repaired toBerlin in the hope of obtaining some public employment fromFrederick II, but was disappointed in his expectation. Two years later he proceeded toDresden, where he experienced a very favourable reception fromCount Brühl, the minister of Saxony. In 1746 he obtained from the elector,Augustus III, the title of councilor of embassy, accompanied with a pension, and was sent toBern in the capacity of the elector's minister. His diplomatic functions did not occupy his whole time, and much of his leisure was devoted toliterature andjurisprudence.[4]
Vattel's seminal work was largely influenced by a book titledJus Gentium Methodo Scientifica Pertractum (The Law of Nations According to the Scientific Method) byChristian Wolff. Vattel's work began, in fact, by translating Wolff's text from Latin, and adding his own thoughts. Vattel's work was also heavily influenced byGottfried Wilhelm Leibniz andHugo Grotius. Focused largely on the rights and obligations of citizens and states, Vattel's work also had ramifications forJust War Theory as it outlined international diplomacy as we now know it.[5]
Vattel elucidated the "Golden Rule of Sovereigns":
One cannot complain when he is treated as he treats others.[6]
Vattel'sLaw of Nations was first translated into English in 1760, based on the French original of 1758. A Dublin translation of 1787 does not include notes from the original nor posthumous notes added to the 1773 French edition. Several other English editions were based on the edition of 1760. However, an English edition from 1793 includes Vattel's later thoughts, as did the London 1797 edition. The 1797 edition has a detailed table of contents and margin titles for subsections.[7]
Charles W.F. Dumas sentBenjamin Franklin three original French copies of de Vattel'sLe droit des gens (The Law of Nations). Franklin presented one copy to theLibrary Company of Philadelphia. On December 9, 1775, Franklin thanked Dumas:[8]
It came to us in good season, when the circumstances of a rising State make it necessary to frequently consult the Law of Nations.
Franklin also said that this book by Vattel, "has been continually in the hands of the members of our Congress now sitting".[9][10]
Two notable copies ofThe Law of Nations owned by theNew York Society Library have been associated withUS PresidentGeorge Washington. One copy had been borrowed by Washington on 8 October 1789, along with a copy of Vol. 12 of theCommons Debates, containing transcripts fromGreat Britain'sHouse of Commons. When the staff of the Washington museum atMount Vernon heard about the overdue books, they were unable to locate them, but purchased a second copy of the de Vattel work forUS$12,000. This identical copy was ceremoniously "returned" 221 years late on 20 May 2010. The library waived the unpaid late-fees.[11]
Vattel also published works other than hismagnum opus. He worked so intensely that his health broke down, and a return to Dresden in 1766 did not improve him. His last work,Questions de droit naturel, ou Observations sur le traité du droit de la nature, par Wolff ("Questions of natural rights...") was published in 1762 and concerned Wolff'snatural law philosophy.[12] He died in 1767 during a visit to Neuchâtel.[1]
Vattel was a highly influential international lawyer.[3] Vattel was one of a number of 18th century European scholars who wrote oninternational law and were "well known in America" at the time, includingJean-Jacques Burlamaqui,Cornelius van Bynkershoek,Hugo Grotius,Samuel von Pufendorf,Thomas Rutherforth,Niccolò Machiavelli, andChristian Wolff.The Law of Nations has been described as "unrivaled among such treatises in its influence on the American founders".[13][14]
Vattel is also cited extensively inLysander Spooner'sThe Unconstitutionality Of Slavery and appears to be a key Enlightenment thinker in Spooner's thought.
In 2015 the United States Department of Defense published its Law of War Manual. Vattel is cited afterHugo Grotius and beforeFrancis Lieber andHersch Lauterpacht as a subsidiary means and an authority in determining the rules oflaw of war.[15]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Vattel, Emeric de".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 951.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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