Papers of John Adams, volume 20
r30 1790
I have had the pleasure of receiving your letter1 and should be happy to furnish you with any hints concerning the study of the Civil Law, which may occur to me after having laid aside all such studies for many years. Under the general phrase Civil law is often understood what is commonly considered the learning necessary to obtain a degree of Doctor of Laws LLD the common abreviation signifies Legis Legum Doctor or Utriusque Juris Doctor. One branch of the division is the Law of Nature and Nations and the other the Roman Law
Of the first of these, Grotius, Puffendorf, Burlamaque, Vattel
Heineccius, Bynkershoeck, Noodt, are the writers most in use and I suppose as good as
any— Of the last, if your intention is to confine your inquiries to the English
language, Woods institute of the Civil Law, Domat, Dr Taylor
and Wiseman’s Law of Laws may answer your purpose. But if, as I presume it will, your
ambition and curiosity should prompt you to become a master of this divine science as it
used to be called, you will in the first place find it necessary to increase your
familiarity with the Latin language and the Roman learning in general. The institutes of
Justinian, the Code the Novells and the digest are all in latin. Commentators on all
these writings are innumerable. But Hoppius, Vinnius, Gail and Cujaicius with Oughtons
Ordo Judiciorum are esteemed the best.2
There are many little Compendium’s or abridgments in latin of the institutes, which you
may read to 457 advantage— They will frequently fall in your way at
sales and may be purchased cheap. But if you read carefully the institutes and acquire a
familiarity with the titles and indexes of the Corpus Juris, So that you may be able
readily to Search a point as you may have occasion, you will find it very useful and
agreeable.— Those who pretend to be very learned in this way Study the Greek translation
of Theophilus, of the institutes of Justinian which is indeed rather a commentary I wish
you much pleasure and profit at the bar and am with much affection your friend as well
as Uncle
LbC in CA’s hand (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mr William Cranch. Braintree.”; APM Reel 115.
Of 11 Dec., above.
JA’s recommendations fell into three categories, and
nearly all were drawn from various editions held in his library at MB. JA’s recommended reading
on the law of nations included: Hugo Grotius, The Rights of
War and Peace, London, 1738; Samuel von Pufendorf, Law
of Nature and Nations, London, 1729; Jean Jacques Burlamaqui, The Principles of Natural and Politic Law, 2 vols., London,
1763; Emmerich de Vattel, The Law of Nations, or Principles of
the Law of Nature, Applied to the Conduct and Affairs of Nations and
Sovereigns, London, 1793; Johann Gottlieb Heineccius, A
Methodical System of Universal Law, 2 vols., London, 1741; Cornelius van
Bynkershoek, Opera Omnia, Leyden, 1767; and Gerard Noodt,
Opera Omnia, Leyden, 1760. For the second category, of
civil law, JA advised reading these works: Thomas Wood, A New Institute of the Imperial or Civil Law, London, 1704;
Jean Domat, Civil Law in Its Natural Order, transl. W.
Strahan, 2 vols., London, 1722; John Taylor, The Elements of
Civil Law, Cambridge, 1755; and Sir Robert Wiseman, The
Law of Laws, London, 1656. JA’s final category, of suggested
reading in Roman law, included: Justinian, Codex, Digesta,
Institutiones, and Novellae; Joachim Hoppe, Commentatio succincta ad Institutiones Justinianeas,
Danzig, 1693; Arnoldus Vinnius, Commentarius . . .
institutionum imperialium, Leyden, 1642; Andreas von Gail, Practicarum observationum, tam ad processum judiciarium,
praesertim imperialis camerae, Cologne, 1578; Jacques Cujas, Opera omnia, in decem tomos distributa, 10 vols., Paris,
1658; and the Greek translation of Theophilus’ Institutes of
Justinian, The Hague, 1751 (
Catalogue of JA’s Library
).