Emer (Emerich or Emmerich) de Vattel (April 25, 1714 - December 28, 1767) was a Swiss philosopher, diplomat, and legal expert whose theories laid the foundation of modern international law and political philosophy. He was born in Couvet in Neuchatel, Switzerland in 1714 and died in 1767 of edema. He was largely influenced in his philosophy by Gottfried Leibniz and Christian Wolff and strove to integrate their ideas into the legal and political system. He is most famous for his 1758 work Droit des gens; ou, Principes de la loi naturelle appliqués à la conduite et aux affaires des nations et des souverains (in English, The Law of Nations or the Principles of Natural Law Applied to the Conduct and to the Affairs of Nations and of Sovereigns). This work was his claim to fame and won him enough prestige to be appointed as a councilor to the court of King Augustus III of Saxony.

The Law of Nations

The cover page from The Law of Nations

The work is available online at Online Library of Liberty.

Other works

Vattel also published works other than his magnum opus. His last work was written in 1762 and concerned the Natural law philosophy of Wolff.

See also

• Samuel Pufendorf

Sources & external links

Primary source

• The Law of Nations (full text)

Secondary material

• 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica entry
• International Law Pioneers

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