ABSTRACT
Hugo Grotius’ contribution to international law and human rights transcended his time to exert a contemporary influence. In light of the abusive character of the king’s authority before the Glorious Revolution, John Locke’s Second Treatise argued that individual rights would be reliably protected only in a government in which the three basic powers — legislative, executive, and federative — were separated. The legislative power is that which has a right to direct how the force of the commonwealth shall be employed for preserving the community and the members of it. But the social order is a sacred right that serves as a basis for all the others. But since the fall of the power of Portugal, no European nation has claimed the exclusive right of sailing in the Indian seas, of which the principal ports are now open to the ships of all European nations.
