Samuel Rachel

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Samuel Rachelius (1678)

Samuel Rachel (Latin: Samuel Rachelius; 6 April 1628 in Lunden – 13 December 1691 in Friedrichstadt) was a German jurist, librarian and diplomat.

Biography

Samuel Rachel was the son of the preacher in Lunden Mauritius Rachel (1594–5 January 1637) and his wife Magarethe Tetens. He attended the Latin school in Husum in 1635 and the scholars' school in Bordesholm in 1637. Here he experienced the time of the Thirty Years' War and had to continue his education briefly at the Johanneum in Hamburg. Returning to Bordesholm, he completed his grammar school education there. He moved to the University of Rostock in June 1648, where he initially intended to pursue theological studies. Later, however, he decided to study law. In 1651 he continued his studies at the Leipzig University and the University of Jena.

Following his studies, he earned his money first as a tutor, then as a teacher in Bordesholm and a year later again as a tutor in Halberstadt. He accompanied his pupils to the University of Helmstedt, where he met Hermann Conring and Georg Calixtus, among others. In 1658, he received a position as professor of ethics in Helmstedt. When the University of Kiel was founded, Christian Albert of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf appointed him professor of natural and international law at the law faculty and also as librarian of the Kiel University Library. He was married on 2 October 1660 to Catharina Ursula (1627–1667), the daughter of Johannes Rothschröder and his wife Anna Catharina. From this marriage came three sons and a daughter. On January 22, 1666, he received his doctorate in law. In 1668 to the second law professorship and from 1677 performed diplomatic duties for his employer.

In 1680, he gave up his professorship in Kiel and from then on lived as a statesman. He was often used for various diplomatic tasks. For example, in 1678 he was in Nijmegen and in 1680 he was appointed Staller of Eiderstedt. In 1684 he had to give way to the Staller appointed by the King, but in the meantime he took over legation trips to Dresden, Regensburg, Nuremberg, etc. After the Altona settlement, he was able to resume his office as Staller in 1689, in which he then remained until his death.

Writings

As a professor he was often active as a writer. In addition to a series of academic disputations, he published various textbooks. Due to the disputes of his employer Christian Albert of Schleswig Holstein-Gottorf with King Christian V of Denmark and Norway, he wrote several state treatises. As a follower of the legal views of Hugo Grotius, he was an opponent of Samuel von Pufendorf and is considered one of the first contributors to the doctrine of natural and international law.

See also

• Classics of International Law

Works

• De offciis: libri tres (1668)
• Aristotelis Ethieorum ad Nicomachum libri decem cum Dionysii Lambini versione latina, accesserunt huic editioni loca parallela ex Magnis moralibus, Eudemiis, Politicis, Rhetoricisque libris Praemissa est in universam Aristotelis philosophiam moralem introductio (1660)
• Tractatus de duellis (1670)
• Introductio ad jus publicum Germanicum (1680)
• Institutionum jurisprudentiae libri IV (1681)
• De jure naturae et gentium (1676)
• De principio aclionum moralium liber in septem disputationes publieas (1664)
• M. T. Cicero: De ofliciis libri tres et in illos Samuclis Rachclii J.U.D. (…) Commentarius (1668)
• Ausführlich, in der Theologie und denen Rechten wohl-begründetes Bedencken über zwo Haupt-Fragen: 1. Ob die gewaltsame Occupirung d. Hertz. Schlewig … d. 30. May a. 1684 jure belli oder sonsten könne justificirt u. behauptet werden? 2. Was von der Eydesleistung … (1685)
• Ciceronis de officiis cum comm. philosophico- juridico (1661)
• Wahrhafter Bericht desjenigen, was zwischen ihrer königl. Majestät zu Dennemark und des mitregierenden Herzogs zu Gottorf hochfürstlicher Durchlauchtigkeit a. 1675 zu Rendsburg und nachgehens vorgekommen (1677)
• Apologia causae et scriptorum Gottorfiensium (1679)

References

• Carstens, Carsten Erich (1888). "Rachel, Samuel". In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). 27. Duncker & Humblot: Leipzig, p. 104.
• Derda, Hans-Jürgen (2006). "Rachel, Samuel". In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck, Dieter Lent (eds.), Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon – 8. bis 18. Jahrhundert. Appelhans Verlag: Braunschweig, p. 572.
• Dreitzel, Horst (2009). "Von Melanchthon zu Pufendorf. Versuch über Typen und Entwicklung der philosophischen Ethik im Protestantischen Deutschland zwischen Reformation und Aufklärung". In: Martin Mulsow, Spätrenaissance-Philosophie in Deutschland 1570–1650: Entwürfe zwischen Humanismus und Konfessionalisierung, okkulten Traditionen und Schulmetaphysik. Niemeyer: Tübingen.

External links

• Works by Samuel Rachel at Gallica
• Works by Samuel Rachel at Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek
• De Jure Naturae et Gentium Dissertationes at Internet Archive