Cairns, John W.

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     Edinburgh Research Explorer                                      Leibniz, Nova methodus discendae docendaeque jurisprudentiae– new translation from Talbot PublishingCitation for published version:Cairns, JW Leibniz, Nova methodus discendae docendaeque jurisprudentiae – new translation from TalbotPublishing.Link:Link to publication record in Edinburgh Research ExplorerDocument Version:Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of recordGeneral rightsCopyright for the publications made accessible via the Edinburgh Research Explorer is retained by the author(s)and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise andabide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.Take down policyThe University of Edinburgh has made every reasonable effort to ensure that Edinburgh Research Explorercontent complies with UK legislation. If you believe that the public display of this file breaches copyright pleasecontact openaccess@ed.ac.uk providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately andinvestigate your claim.Download date: 05. Apr. 2019Leibniz, Nova methodus discendae docendaeque jurisprudentiae – new translation fromTalbot PublishingPosted on 15/02/2017 by John CairnsGottfried Wilhelm Leibniz is nowadays best remembered as an inventor of calculus (in rivalry with IsaacNewton) and as the man lampooned by Voltaire as Pangloss. But of course, there was much more to him thanthat. He deserves further study.Your blogger has visited the charming university buildings at Altdorf near Nuremberg where Leibniz gained hisdoctorate in law (and where Hugues Doneau had earlier taught); he has also explored some of Leibniz’scorrespondence with Alexander Cunningham, a Scots scholar, involving kind and energetic assistance from theLeibniz Archive in Hanover. Cunningham spent much of his life working on an unfinished new edition of theDigest; this was a topic of interest to the German polymath – hence their correspondence. But it also indicatesthe importance of law to Leibniz, an importance often overlooked and perhaps overshadowed by his otherachievements as mathematician and philosopher. His very definition of justice as the “charity of the wise” isnovel and unique, suggesting the interest in his works on law, and the depths of Leibniz as an original thinker.In 1667, a year after Leibniz gained his doctorate, he published his Nova methodus discendae docendaequejurisprudentiae, which he dedicated to the Elector of Mainz – an ambitious work for a newly fledged jurist. Theaim of the book was practical. It also contained an important essay on the law of nature. This discussion is stillimportant. Leibniz reflected on the various and conflicting understandings of natural law in the ancient world,while also engaging in an anlysis of modern scholars, most notably Grotius and Hobbes. This is not the place toexplore in detail this important work; but it is an interesting exemplar of a rationalist approach, in which, forexample, he calls for a logical restructuring of the Corpus iuris (which explains his interest in the work ofCunningham) as well as for a revision of legal education.Of course, the second half of the seventeenth century saw a considerable amount of discussion of the teaching oflaw, with new subjects introduced into legal education, such as the law of nature and nations, and new methods,such as the methodus compendiaria. This means that it is important that we contextualize Leibniz’s work as awork on legal education as well as reflecting on it as an exemplar of his legal thought. This means it is necessaryto compare it with other contemporary works on the method of legal education, such as Ulric Huber’s famousdialogue of 1684, De ratione juris docendi & discendi diatribe, recently translated by Margaret Hewett(Nijmegen 2010). After all, the theme is hardly original; what is original is the treatment.In 2014, Professor Matthias Armgardt of Konstanz, the noted expert on Leibniz’s legal philosophy, remarkedthat for proper study of Leibniz’s legal thought, translations were necessary of a number of the great Germanscholar’s works, including a translation of the Nova methodus; Armgardt noted, however, that this work hadvery recently been translated into Italian by Carmelo Massimo de Iuliis. The same translator has now producedan English version of the 1667 Frankfurt edition of the Nova methodus with notes and an introduction. For allinterested in thinking about legal education and legal study in the Baroque age, this will be an invaluablepublication, making more accessible the thoughts—if youthful—of an intellectual giant of the age. The volumecontains a useful introduction to Leibniz, as well as annotations. The distinguished comparatist, William E.Butler of Pennsylvania State, best known for his work on the Soviet Union and Russia, has provided a preface.While the Nova methodus is readily available in Latin in libraries or on the internet, the new translation willhopefully encourage greater engagement with Leibniz’s legal work in the Anglophone world. The days whereproper study can be expected of works in Latin is passing. This translation should make it easier both to placeThe Edinburgh Legal History Blogthe Nova methodus contextually in a consideration of legal education in Europe and to assess its impact.The new translation has been published by Talbot Publishing, an imprint of the Lawbook Exchange, at what isnow a very modest cost for a hardback book: $85.00 (ISBN 978-1-61619-547-2). This must encourage furtherstudy of this important figure in the world of English-language scholarship. Share this:This entry was posted in Legal History. Bookmark the permalink.The Edinburgh Legal History Blog  RelatedConference on Leibnitz George Dargo, Essays in American LegalHistoryParis: histoire, droit, et lois21/03/2017In "303 Years of Civil Law" 30/07/2012In "New Books"08/05/2017In "Legal History"Proudly powered by WordPress.

Leibniz, Nova methodus discendae docendaeque jurisprudentiae – new translation from Talbot Publishing

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Leibniz, Nova methodus discendae docendaeque jurisprudentiae – new translation from Talbot Publishing

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