[SCHMIDT D'AVENSTEIN, Georg Ludwig].

Principes de la législation universelle.

Amsterdam, Marc Michel Rey, 1776. 2 vols, 8vo, pp. xx, 389, [3] index; [iv] 474, [2] index; a good copy in contemporary speckled calf, spines ruled gilt in compartments, contrasting gilt morocco labels; joints of vol. 2 slightly cracked but firm, spine ends chipped with slight loss. First edition of an interesting and wide-ranging work, with close affinities to physiocracy. There are sections discussing population (Schmid advocates a continuous increase, denying that it would outrun the means of subsistence); domestic society (he maintains that divorce is sanctioned by natural law and that polygamy favours a healthy multiplication of the species); property (he defends private ownership of land, rejecting communism as a monastic idea contrary to the order of nature); luxury (inequality of wealth is just and necessary to national prosperity, but luxury of consumption should be eradicated - though by the influence of public opinion and not by sumptuary laws); taxation (Schmid favours direct over indirect taxation); commerce (external trade is not a source of real wealth, and, to the extent that it is necessary, the balance of trade should be kept in exact equilibrium); and war (he proposes a European confederation to guarantee peace). Schmid’s conclusion is that the sources of public welfare are property, liberty and security: ‘les indices les plus clairs de la félicité d’un pays sont donc une agriculture florissante, une population nombreuse et aisée, la liberté et l’habitude de l’instruction, et enfin une paix durable ou rarement interrompue’.Barbier III, 1031; Einaudi A.867; INED 4116; not in Goldsmiths’ or Kress.

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