High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Baron Samuel von Pufendorf (January 8, 1632 – October 13, 1694) was a German jurist, political philosopher, economist, statesman, and historian. His name was just Samuel Pufendorf until he was ennobled in 1684; he was made a Freiherr (baron) a few months before his death in 1694. Among his achievements are his commentaries and revisions of the natural law theories of Thomas Hobbes and Hugo Grotius.