]> ms. 140 Bluntschli (Johann Casper) 1808-1881 Collection 1750-1884 Ms. 140 Margaret N. Burri Special Collections, The Milton S. Eisenhower Library, The Johns Hopkins University
3400 N. Charles Street Baltimore, MD 21218 USA Phone: (410) 516-8323
Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Marius Stan Finding aid written in English Bluntschli (Johann Casper) 1808-1881 Collection 1750-1884 Ms. 140 Special CollectionsThe Milton S. Eisenhower Library The Johns Hopkins University Contact Information Special Collections The Milton S. Eisenhower Library The Johns Hopkins University 3400 North Charles Street Baltimore, MD 21218 (410) 516-8323 Margaret N. Burri May 1987 Marius Stan

©2004 The Johns Hopkins University

 Descriptive Summary Ms. 140 Bluntschli (Johann Casper) 1808-1881Collection 1750-1884 Bluntschli, Johann Caspar, 1808-1881 Johns Hopkins University. Special Collections 12 document boxes (5 linear feet) English, German The Bluntschli Collection consists of lectures, student notes, research notes, notebooks, autographs, book reviews and newspaper clippings. The collection spans the years 1823-1884, and contains slightly less than 6 linear feet. Access to the collection is unrestricted.The collection is divided into ten series: student notes; Verfassungs-Commission minutes; lectures; law case briefs; research notes; manuscript copies of Swiss laws; writings; letters; autographs and biographical material. Additionally, secondary works in the fields of law, politics and classics, collected by Bluntschli, have been integrated into the main Milton S. Eisenhower collection, as have copies of his major published works. A sense of Bluntschli's collecting interests may be gleaned from the description found in the University Circular of 1883 (copy attached following container lists).In the fall of 1988, it was discovered that Bluntschli's collection of pamphlets on Switzerland, international law, and international politics had been bound together in the History Pamphlets. This collection, housed in Gilman Storage under the call number D1.A, consists of all the pamphlets collected in the Historical Seminary Library. In the 1940s, they were bound, keeping the classification system begun by Herbert Baxter Adams. When the Bluntschli library was given, the material was kept separate from the rest of the seminary holdings. Sometime after Adams's death, probably during the move into Gilman Hall, the Bluntschli material was integrated.Johann Caspar Bluntschli was an authority on Swiss and German jurisprudence. The student notes represent his methodic training in the source of law, Roman law. His later lectures, legal briefs, and research notes are an excellent source for studying the development of Bluntschli's interpretation of Swiss and German legal questions. The handwritten drafts of Staats- und Rechtsgeschichte der Stadt und Landschaft Zurich and the article "Die historische Schule deutscher Juristen" (which first appeared in Arnold Reigers Halleschen Jahrbuch of October 1839) invite comparison with the published works. Also, the compilations of Swiss laws provide information that would otherwise be available only in a foreign repository. Administrative Information Provenance

The Bluntschli library, consisting of bound volumes, pamphlets and manuscripts, was presented to the Johns Hopkins University in 1883. Leading citizens of the German-American community in Baltimore, among them Colonel F. Raine, editor of the Deutsche Correspondent and C.F. Raddatz of Baltimore City College, purchased the material from Bluntschli's estate and donated the collection. For details about this purchase, see the Herbert Baxter Adams Papers, M.S. 4. The donors chose Hopkins in recognition of the University's committment to the German scholastic model. Also, Herbert Baxter Adams of the Hopkins' history department, had studied under Bluntschli while a student in Heidelberg. A transcript of the presentation ceremonies and an account of the library's contents may be found following the container lists.

 Use Restrictions

Access to the papers is unrestricted.

Literary Rights: The literary rights were not donated to the Milton S. Eisenhower Library. Permission to publish material from this collection must be requested in writing from the Manuscripts Librarian, Milton S. Eisenhower Library, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218.

Permission to publish material from this collection must be requested in writing from the Manuscripts Librarian, Milton S. Eisenhower Library, The Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, Md. 21218.

 Preferred Citation

Johann Casper Bluntschli CollectionMs. 140Special CollectionsMilton S. Eisenhower LibraryThe Johns Hopkins University

 Biographical Note

Johann Caspar Bluntschli was born in Zurich, Switzerland in 1808. In 1826-1827 he studied Roman Law at the Political Institute of Zurich under Professor F.L. Keller. He received his university training in Berlin in 1827-1828 under F. C. Savigny, Carl Ritter, G. Phillips, and Professors Rudorff and August Bockh, and continued in Bonn under Berthold Niebuhr, Tugge, and J.C. Hasse (1828-1829). After a winter in Paris, he returned to Zurich in 1830. He began that year to lecture on Roman Law in the Political Institute. At the same time, he became a secretary of the Government and a practicing lawyer. In 1831, he published Das Volk und der Souveran. In 1833, Bluntschli became Associate Professor and in 1836 Professor in the newly founded University of Zurich. His Staats- und Rechtsgeschichte der Stadt und Landschaft Zurich was published in 1838-1839; Geschichte des Republik Zurich in 1847; and in 1846-1848 his Geschichte des Schweizerischen Bundesrechts. He was commissioned by the Great Council of Zurich, whose membership he joined in 1837, to prepare a civil code for the canton. He prepared the Code and it was adopted almost without change in 1853.

Bluntschli was called to the University of Munich in 1848. There, he devoted his energies to political science and German jurisprudence. The first great work of this period was his Allegemeine Staatsrecht which appeared in 1852, and was revised in 1875 as Lehre vom modernen Staat. Another notable work which had its origins in Munich (1857) and its completion in Heidelberg (1870) was Deutsches Staatsworterbuch.

In 1861 Bluntschli went to the University of Heidelberg, received appointment to the Upper House of the Baden Diet and was made a Privy Councillor. Largely instrumental in the constitutional reforms of Baden in 1864, Bluntschli also spoke out early for German unity. He was for many years President of the Grand Synod of Baden, and was chosen first President of the Institut de Droit International. He was renowned not only as a jurist but as a politician.

Johann Kaspar Bluntschli died suddenly on October 21, 1881, leaving two sons, Friedrich Carl and Fritz, and three daughters, Luise von Hecker, and Emma and Elina Bluntschli.

Bluntschli's autobiography, titled Denkwurdiges aus meinem Leben, appeared in 1848. Additional biographical information may be found there, as well as in two pamphlets by Daniel Coit Gilman and Henry Baxter Adams: Bluntschli, Lieber and Laboulaye and Bluntschli's Life Work (1884). Copies of these pamphlets may be found in Box 1 in the folder marked "Biographical Information."

Description of Series/Container List Series I, Student Notes Series I, Student Notes, 1823-29 5 boxes.

The notes, taken by Bluntschli while a student in Zurich at the Political Institute and at the University of Berlin, cover the areas of Latin literature (Keller), Greek geography (Carl Ritter), Roman law (Keller), German constitutional history (G. Phillips), the basics of German jurisprudence (Savigny), and the French Revolution (Niebuhr). Arranged chronologically, the notes provide much information regarding the content of German legal instruction in the nineteenth century.

 Box Contents 1 "Witty, Satirical and Humourous Thoughts in Metrical Language." 1823 1 Cicero 1825 1 Latin Literature--Horace 1825 1 Latin Literature--Cicero 1826 1 Latin Literature--Cicero Pro Caecino, lectures by Dr. Keller 1826 1 Institutes of Gaius, lectures by F.L. Keller 1827 1 Roman Law 1827 1 Latin Literature--Livy 1827 1 Latin Literature--Suetonius 1827 1 Latin Literature--Ennius; Gallusti Cataline 1828 1 Latin Literature--Tacitus 1828 1 Roman Law 1828/29 1 Lectures on the Pandects 1829 2 Geographie von Griechenland, lectures by Professor Carl Ritter, Berlin 1827/28 2 Roman Civil Law, lectures by Professor G. Keller, Zurich 1826 2 Pandekten, lectures by Professor G. Keller, Zurich 1827 2 Griechische Altertumer, lectures by Professor Bockh, Berlin 1827/28 2 Constitutional History of Germany, lectures by Professor G. Phillips, Berlin 1827/28 2 Ehrbrecht (Law of Inheritance), lectures by Professor Rudorff, Berlin 1827/28 3 Pandekten I, lectures by Professor F.C. Savigny, Berlin 1827/28 3 Pandekten II, lectures by Professor F.C. Savigny, Berlin 1827/28 3 Pandekten III, lectures by Professor F.C. Savigny, Berlin 1828 3 History of Roman Law, lectures by Professor H. Klenze, Berlin 1828 3-A Doctrini Pandectarum, by Carl Gustav Zadig, stud. juris nach dem Vortrage des Prof. D. Unterholzner, Breslau (bound) 1823 3-A Geschichte und Antiquitaten des Romischen Rechts, Professor H. Klenze, Berlin (bound) 1823 3-A Rechts-Philosophie, lectures by Professor Tugge, Bonn 1829 3-A Zurich Law of Private Rights, especially of Obligations, lectures by Professor Keller, Zurich n.d. 4 History and Institutes of Roman Law, lectures by Professor F.C. von Savigny, Berlin 1828 4 Roemische Geschichte, lectures by Professor Berthold Niebuhr, Bonn 1828/29 4 Franzoesische Revolution, lectures by Professor Niebuhr, Bonn 1829 4 Pandekten, lectures by Professor J.C. Hasse, Bonn 1829 5 Das gemeine Erbrecht, lectures by Professor J.C. Hasse, Bonn 1828/29 5 Lehnrecht (Feudal Law), lectures by Professor P.F. Deiters, Bonn 1828/29 5 Deutsches Privatrecht, lectures by Professor J.C. Hasse, Bonn 1828/29 Series II, Verfassungs Commission Minutes Series II, Verfassungs Commission Minutes, 1830-1831 1 box.

These are the minutes of the Commission that met in 1830-1831 to discuss issues of constitutional reform. Bluntschli was a member of the Commission, and kept the minutes.

 Box Contents 7 "Verfassungs Commission 1830-31," ["Minutes of the Commission of Revision" kept by J.C. Bluntschli.] 1830/31 Series III, Lectures Series III, Lectures, 1835-1841 2 boxes.

Bluntschli delivered these lectures during his tenure at the University of Zurich. Included in this series is a copy of class lectures by a Professor Albrecht at Gottingen on the German Law of Private Rights from the summer semester of 1835. It is unclear whether Bluntschli studied with Albrecht during this time, or used the lectures for his own classes.

 Box Contents 10 Zurich Law of Private Rights, 1835/36 10 Commercial Law, 1838/39 10 Constitutions of Switzerland and America, 1838/39 10 Feudal Law, the Right of Settlement, 1838/39 10 German Law of Private Rights, 1838 10 Legal History of Germany, 1838 10 Tacitus Germania, 1840/41 10 Der Sachsenspiegel, 1841 10 Unidentified, 1841 11 Family Law, n.d. 11 The History and Institutions of Rome, n.d. 11 Roman Law, n.d. 11 Roman Antiquities, n.d. 11 German Law and Private Rights, by Professor Albrecht 1835 Series IV, Law Case Briefs Series IV, Law Case Briefs, 1840s-1881 2 boxes.

These are notes of legal briefs that Bluntschli wrote while a practicing lawyer.

Box Contents 8 Legal opinions on questions of Swiss law, [1840s?] 3 items. 8 Legal opinions on questions of Swiss law, [1840s?] 1 item. 8 Legal opinions on question of Swiss law, 1840s 4 items. 8 Legal opinions on questions of Swiss law, 1858 3 items. 8 Legal opinions on questions of Swiss law, 1860s 3 items. 8 Legal opinions on questions of Swiss law, 1860s 6 items. 8 Legal opinions on questions of Swiss law, 1860s 3 items. 8 Legal opinions on questions of Swiss law, 1860s 5 items. 8 Legal opinions on questions of Swiss law, 1860s 3 items. 8 Legal opinions on questions of Swiss law, 1860s 9 items. 8 Legal opinions on questions of Swiss law, 1870s 5 items. 8 Legal opinions on questions of Swiss law, Post-1880 3 items. 8 Legal opinions on questions of Swiss law, n.d. 2 items. 8 Legal opinions on questions of Swiss law, n.d. 2 items. 8 Legal opinions on questions of Swiss law, n.d. 4 items. 8 Legal opinions on questions of Swiss law, n.d. 2 items. 8 Legal opinions on questions of Swiss law, n.d. 4 items. 8 Handwritten and printed copy of a statement made to members of the High Privy Council of Zurich about the legal questions of freedom of the press. n.d. Series V, Research Notes Series V, Research Notes, 1841-1876 1 box.

This series contains research notes on laws and legal practices in Switzerland, Germany and Roumania.

Box Contents 9 Legal opinions affecting Bavaria, Germany in general, and Roumania, n.d. 6 items. 9 Notes on the conception of law, n.d. 1 item. 9 Notes on legal personality, n.d. 1 item. 9 Notes on the history of Switzerland, n.d. 1 item. 9 Notes on Zurich: Sources of private rights, inheritance, and marital guardianship, n.d. 3 items. 9 Notes on Zurich: Laws of marriage and inheritance, n.d. 1 item. 9 Extracts from law sources in Zurich., n.d. 9 Notes on the legal history of Zurich., n.d. Series VI, Manuscript Copies of Swiss Laws Series VI, Manuscript Copies of Swiss Laws, c.1750-1850 2 boxes.

These are handwritten transcriptions of laws from towns in the German-speaking cantons in Switzerland, as well as the town of Neuchatel. They span the mid-fifteenth century to 1788, with the bulk of the material focusing on the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They are arranged alphabetically by town and then chronologically. Paleographic evidence indicates that Bluntschli bought the volumes, rather than compiling them himself. One quarto volume, spine labelled Zurich Regester, contains lists of officials in Zurich, as well as laws and ordinances. Bluntschli, a leading authority on the development of Swiss jurisprudence, probably gathered these as the basis for his two works on Swiss laws, Staats-und Rechtsgeschichte der Stadt und Landschaft Zurich, (1838-1839) and Geschichte der Republik Zurich (1847-1856).

Box Contents 6 Appenzell: "Das heutige Landrecht," 1788. 6 Appenzell: "Land-Buch," v 6 Kyburg: "Laws and Customs of Kyburg," 1754. 6 Muhlhausen: "Unruhen in Muhlhausen 1580/90," by Johann Heinrich Fussli (1744-1832), author's manuscript. 6 Neuchatel: "Recueil des Declarations de la Coutume de Neuchatel," since 1705. 6 Regensberg: [Customs] "Amts Recht, u.s.w.", n.d. 6 Regensberg: "Kundschaft um die Muhle,", n.d. 6 Regensberg: [Customs] "Nieder-Wenigen Urkunden,", n.d. 6 Regensberg: [Customs] "Offnung von Ober und Unter Steinmauer," since 1581. 6 Regendorf: [Customs] "Amts-Recht," 1696. 7 Urseren: [Customs] "Thal Buch," 1745. 7 Winterthur: [Customs] "Erbrecht," 1771. 7 Zurich: [Laws and Customs] zur Gesetzen Sammlung, n.d. 7 Zurich: [Customs] "Offnung der geminde zu Buchs,", 1530. 7 Zurich: "Erlauterung des Zuercherischen Stadterbrechts," since 1783. 7 Zurich: "Freien Gerichts Satzung und Ordnung," 1674. 7 Zurich: [Laws] "Das Alteste Regiment der Stadt Zurich," [lists of officials and laws of Zurich from the 12th to the 16th century with some later additions].

Shelved in Cage 3.

Series VII, Writings Series VII, Writings, 1839-1881 1 Box.

This series consists of both manuscript and printed materials. The manuscripts are draft copies of Staats- und Rechtsgeschichte der Stadt und Landschaft Zurich, and the article, "Die historische Schule deutscher Juristen". The printed material includes a copy of the pamphlet The Foundation of the American Union, an article "Trostlischer Gedanke. Englische und deutschen Art," from the paper Die Gegenwart; the so-called "Bluntschli Pamphlets," and copies of some of his major works.

The Bluntschli Pamphlets were bound in 4 volumes by the Johns Hopkins University after their acquisition. The 72 items, all written by Bluntschli, span 1830-1881, and represent a substantial portion of his complete writings. The pamphlets are shelved in the cage under the call number JX2775.B63.

Although the description of the Bluntschli library found in the University Circular of 1883 indicates that all of Bluntschli's major works became part of the permanent collection, only the following are in the main Milton S. Eisenhower Library Stacks: Allgemeines Staatsrecht, 4th edition, 1868. Die Beuterecht im Krieg, und das Seebeuterecht insbesondere. Eine Volkerrechtliche Untersuchung von J.C. Bluntschli, 1878. Le Congres de Berlin et sa Portee au Point de vue du droit international par M. Bluntschli, 1881. Deutsches Staats-woerterbuch, 1870. Gesammelte Kleine Schriften, 1879-1881. Kritische Uberschau der deutschen Gesetzgebung und Rechtswissenschaft. Lehre vom modernen Staat, 1876-86.

The main card catalog may be consulted for call numbers.

Box Contents 9 Handwritten partial draft of "Staats- und Rechtsgeschichte der Stadt und Landschaft Zurich." 1839 9 Draft of "Die historische Schule deutscher Juristen." 1839 9 Printed copy of "The Foundation of the American Union." 1872 9 "Trostlicher Gedanke. Englische und deutschen Art," article in Die Gegenwart, Berlin, 10 September, 1881. , 1881 9 Draft of a speech delivered to the Privy Council of Zurich. n.d. Series VIII, Letters Series VIII, Letters, 1859-1880 1 box.

The letters are from five different correspondents: Hermann Bischoff, (a professor of Physiology at the University of Berlin), 23 February 1859; F. Thudicten (?), a private tutor, 18 November 1860; Leon de Morthes, 5 March, 1880; Fridolen Anderwert, Councillor of State and Chief of the Department of Justice in Bern, 27 March, 1880; and one unidentified correspondent. The bulk of the Bluntschli correspondence is in the Stadtbibliothek in Zurich in the Bluntschli-Archiv. A portion of the correspondence has been published in Bluntschli's Briefwechsel mit Savigny, Niebuhr, Leopold Ranke, Jakob Grimm und Ferdinand Meyer, edited by Wilhelm Oechsli (Frauenfeld: 1915).

Box Contents 9 Letters, 1859/80 6 items. Series IX, Autographs Series IX, Autographs, 1858-1876 1 box.

This series consists of 14 autographed pamphlet covers, each inscribed to Bluntschli by its author. The writers were contemporaries of Bluntschli who also wrote on questions of jurisprudence. The following authors are included: Adolf Beer, Friedrich Bodenstedt, D.D. Farjasse, L. Goldschmidt, Franz von Holtzendorff, Wilhelm Ihne, Carl Knies, Edouard Laboulaye, Francis Lieber, Wilhelm Oncken, Karl Heinrich Rau, Heinrich Albert Zacharia, Heinrich Zoepfl, and one unidentified author.

Box Contents 9 Autographs, 1858/76 14 items. Series X, Biographical Material Series X, Biographical Material, 1837-1884 1 box.

This series contains secondary material: reviews of Bluntschli's Staats- und Rechtsgeschichte der Stadt und Landschaft Zurich and Deutsche Staatslehre fur Gebildete; the 22 December, 1837 issue of Der Schweizerische Constitutionelle describing a petition Bluntschli presented to the Zurich Council; an announcement of a proposed "Bluntschli-Stiftung fur Allgemeines Staatsrecht und Volkenrecht; a copy of the statutes of the Association pour la Defense de la Propriete Litteraraire et Artistique; and a newspaper illustration of Bluntschli, probably added to the collection after it became the property of Hopkins. Two small pamphlets by Herbert Baxter Adams and Daniel Coit Gilman are also included here.

Box Contents 1 1837 December 22 issue of 'Der Schweizerische Constitutionelle'. 1837 1 Review of "Staats- und Rechtsgeschichte der Stadt und Landschaft Zurich". [1838] 1 Review of "Deutsche Staatslehre fuer Gebildete". 1874 1 Announcement of the newly formed "Bluntschli-Stiftung." 1882 1 Adams, Herbert Baxter. "Bluntschli's Life Work". Privately printed, Baltimore. 1884 1 Gilman, Daniel Coit. "Bluntschli, Lieber and Laboulaye". Privately printed, Baltimore. 1884 1 Newspaper clippings: 1881/82 Presentation of Bluntschli's Library to Johns Hopkins University. Death of Bluntschli. Review in New York World of Bluntschli's "International Law". Johns Hopkins University Circular re: acquistion of Bluntschli library.