City Readers Digital Historic Collections at the New York Society Library

Baron Samuel von Pufendorf (8 January 1632 – 13 October 1694) was a German jurist, political philosopher, economist, statesman, and historian. His name was just Samuel Pufendorf until he was ennobled in 1684; he was made a Freiherr (baron) a few months before his death at age 62 in 1694. Among his achievements are his commentaries and revisions of the natural law theories of Thomas Hobbes and Hugo Grotius.