ABSTRACT

The essays collected for this volume represent the best scholarly literature on Hugo Grotius available in the English language. In the English speaking world Grotius is not as well known as his fellow 17th century political philosophers, Thomas Hobbes or John Locke, but in legal theory Grotius is at least as important. Even on central political concepts such as liberty and property, Grotius has important views that should be explored by anyone working in legal and political philosophy. And Grotius‘s work, especially De Jure Belli ac Pacis, is much more important in international law and the laws of war than anyone else‘s work in the 17th or 18th centuries. This volume is therefore useful not only to Grotius scholars, but also to anyone interested in historical and modern debates on key issues in political and legal philosophy more broadly, and international law in particular.

part I|1 pages

Grotius’s Place in the History of Legal and Political Thought

chapter 1|33 pages

Grotius

10 April 1583–28 August 1645

chapter 2|31 pages

Hugo Grotius

part II|1 pages

Natural Law and Natural Right

chapter 6|23 pages

“Ancient Caesarian Lawyers” in a State of Nature

Roman Tradition and Natural Rights in Hugo Grotius’s De iure praedae

part IV|1 pages

Property Rights and Law