HEINECCIUS, JOHANN GOTTLIEB 741), German jurist, was born on Sept. 11, 1681, at Eisenberg, Alten burg, and died at Halle, where he was professor of law, on Aug. 31, 1741. Heineccius endeavoured to treat law as a rational sci ence, and not merely as an empirical art whose rules had no deeper source than expediency. Thus he continually refers to first prin ciples, and he develops his legal doctrines as a system of philos ophy. His most important work was Elementa juris naturae et gentium (1737; Eng. trans. by Turnbull, 2 vols., 1763 ) .