ABSTRACT
Vico distinguishes “the natural law of the philosophers” from the ius gentium, the shared laws, customs, and practices of the conquered Roman provinces—and by extension nearly all human societies. The relationship of the former to the latter has preoccupied natural law thinkers since the eighteenth century. Vico comes down four-square for the primacy of the ius gentium, reasoning that the “natural law of the philosophers” was a philosophical reflection on the principles that informed the ius gentium. The Roman concept of ius gentium led Vico to an exploration of the interrelationship of religion and rhetoric in Roman legal history. Vico is an historian of law rather than a philosopher of law. He claims repeatedly that philosophizing about law was the terminus ad quem of the historical process he was describing. What remains to be explored, then, is what Vico’s historical account has to do with philosophical arguments about natural law.
