Burlamaqui, Jean Jacques

views updated May 29 2018

BURLAMAQUI, JEAN JACQUES

Jean Jacques Burlamaqui achieved prominence as a Swiss jurist and legal author.

Burlamaqui was born July 24, 1694. As an educator, Burlamaqui taught legal studies at Geneva; however, his fame is based primarily on his two publications relating to the law: Principes du droit naturel, translated as "Principles of natural law," in 1747; and Principes au droit politique, or "Principles of political law," in 1751. He believed in natural law and its relationship to God, human intellect, and innate moral responses, and he viewed natural law as the foundation of domestic and international law.

Burlamaqui died April 3, 1748, in Geneva, Switzerland.