Reprint of the first edition in English, and the standard translation today. Fichte was one of the leading German Idealist philosophers in the period between Kant and Hegel, and is considered to be one of the founders of German nationalism. Indeed, his work is seen as a link between Kant's Critical Philosophy and Hegel's Philosophy of Spirit. The Science of Rights, a restatement of Kantian principles in terms of natural law, is his principal legal work. For Fichte, the basis of law are legal relations that illuminate the principles of positive law. "His theory of law is highly abstract, but in the notion of legal relations and in his conception of the necessary requirements of an international order he enunciated ideas of great value": Walker, The Oxford Companion to Law 468.