Johann Gottlieb Heineccius (1681–1741) was a German jurist from Eisenberg, Thuringia.
He studied theology at Leipzig and later law at the newly founded (1694) University at Halle, where he became a pupil of Christian Thomasius.
Johann Gottlieb Heineccius was appointed in 1713 professor of philosophy, and in 1718 professor of jurisprudence.
Heineccius belonged to the school of philosophical jurists. He endeavoured to treat law as a rational science, and not merely as an empirical art whose rules had no deeper source than expediency. Thus he continually refers to first principles, and he develops his legal doctrines as a system of philosophy.
Heineccius became known for his textbooks on Roman Law and for his lectures on natural law.
His chief works were: Antiquitatum Romanarum jurisprudentiam illustrantium syntagma (1718); Historia juris civilis Romani ac Germanici (1733); Elementa juris Germanici (1735); Elementa juris naturae et gentium (1737; Eng. trans. by Turnbull, 2 vols, London, 1763).
Besides these works he wrote on purely philosophical subjects, and edited the works of several of the classical jurists. His Opera omnia (9 vols, Geneva, 1771, etc.) were edited by his son Johann Christian Gottlieb Heineccius (1718–1791).