Der im sauerländischen Iserlohn geborene Pütter trug maßgeblich zum großartigen Ruf des Staatsrechts an der Universität Göttingen bei. Vielen Zeitgenossen galt er als der bedeutendste Jurist überhaupt, zumindest als der bedeutendste Staatsrechtler. Doch betrieb er auch die Privatrechtswissenschaft, gab dort der Systematik im allgemeinen und dem Urheberrecht im besonderen Impulse. Man sieht in Pütter heute einen Promotor der Verfassungsgeschichte und vor allem den Juristen, der das Staatsrecht des Heiligen Römischen Reiches sozusagen endgültig behandelt hat. Pütter überlebte das Ende ,seines' Reiches nur um eine kurze Spanne.
Johann Stephan Pütter made a significant contribution to the reputation which the University of Göttingen enjoyed in the eighteenth century as a centre for the study of public and constitutional law. Many of contemporaries regarded him as the most eminent legal expert in Germany, or at least as the leading authority on constitutional law. Pütter also worked in the field of private law, and contributed to the systematization of private law in general, and to copyright law in particular. Today Pütter is considered to be a proponent of constitutional law and as the expert who said the final word on the constitutional law of the Holy Roman Empire.
Johann Stephan Pütter made a significant contribution to the reputation which the University of Göttingen enjoyed in the eighteenth century as a centre for the study of public and constitutional law. Many of contemporaries regarded him as the most eminent legal expert in Germany, or at least as the leading authority on constitutional law. Pütter also worked in the field of private law, and contributed to the systematization of private law in general, and to copyright law in particular. Today Pütter is considered to be a proponent of constitutional law and as the expert who said the final word on the constitutional law of the Holy Roman Empire.