ABSTRACT

The interest of peace and liberty, so much stressed by David Hume, will be conducive in the construction of an internationally binding order of justice. Hume’s claim that the system of international law allows a relaxation of rulers’ morality is far from refuted. Hume thinks that the principles of international law are extensions of the notion of justice which regulates the relations between individuals. Hume has to explain why rulers obey the same laws of justice as their subjects and why there are nevertheless cases in which violation of justice should be judged differently when committed by a ruler than when done by a private citizen. The extended application of the principles of justice means a weakening thereof and leads to a relaxation of morality. According to Hume, there is an analogy between the relations of sexes on the one hand and the relation of international community to civil society on the other hand.