MARTENS

martens, georg friedrich von (1756-1821), german jurist and diplomatist, was born at hamburg on the 22nd of february 1756. educated at the universities of gottingen, regensburg and vienna, he became professor of jurisprudence at gottingen in 1783 and was ennobled in 1789. he was made a counsellor of state by the elector of hanover in 1808, and in 1810 was president of the financial section of the council of state of the kingdom of westphalia. in 1814 he was appointed privy cabinet-councillor (_geheimer kabinetsrat_) by the king of hanover, and in 1816 went as representative of the king to the diet of the new german confederation at frankfort, where he died on the 21st of february 1821. of his works the most important is the great collection of treaties _recueil des traites, &c._ from 1761 onwards. of this the first seven volumes were published at gottingen (1791-1801), followed by four supplementary volumes partly edited by his nephew karl von martens (see below). these were followed by _nouveau recueil_, of treaties subsequent to 1808, in 16 vols. (gottingen, 1817-1842), of which g. f. von martens edited the first four, the fifth being the work of k. von martens, the others (6-9) by f. saalfeld and (10-16) f. murhard. a _nouveau supplement_, in 3 vols., filling gaps in the previous collection, was also published by murhard (gottingen, 1839-1842). this was followed by _nouveau recueil ... continuation du grand recueil de martens_, in 20 vols. (gottingen, 1843-1875), edited in turn by f. murhard, c. murhard, j. pinhas, c. samwer and j. hopf, with a general index of treaties from 1494 to 1874 (1876). this was followed by _nouveau recueil, 2me serie_ (gottingen, 1876-1896; vols. xxii.-xxxv., leipzig, 1897-1908). from vol. xi. on this series was edited by felix stork, professor of public law at greifswald. in 1909 appeared vol. i. of a further _continuation (troisieme serie)_ under the editorship of professor heinrich triepel of kiel university. of martens' other works the most important are the _precis du droit des gens modernes de l'europe_ (1789; 3rd ed., gottingen, 1821; new ed., g. s. pinheiro-ferreira, 2 vols., 1858, 1864); _erzahlungen merkwurdiger falle des neueren europaischen volkerrechts_, 2 vols. (gottingen, 1800-1802); _cours diplomatique ou tableau des relations des puissances de l'europe_, 3 vols. (berlin, 1801); _grundriss einer diplomatischen gesch. der europ. staatshandel u. friedensschlusse seit dem ende des 15. jahrhunderts_ (ibid. 1807). his nephew karl von martens (1790-1863), who at his death was minister resident of the grand-duke of weimar at dresden, published a _manuel diplomatique_ (leipzig, 1823), re-issued as _guide diplomatique_ in two vols. in 1832 (5th ed. by geffcken, 1866), a valuable textbook of the rules and customs of the diplomatic service; _causes celebres du droit des gens_ (2 vols., ibid., 1827) and _nouvelles causes celebres_ (2 vols., ibid., 1843), both republished, in 5 vols. (1858-1861); _recueil manuel et pratique de traites_ (7 vols., ibid., 1846-1857); continued by geffcken in 3 vols., (1885-1888).