Grotius on the Rights of War and Peace

Reprint of the sole edition of this translation. In this momentous workGrotius describes the situations in which war is a valid tool of lawenforcement and outlines the principles of armed combat. Though basedon Christian natural law, Grotius advanced the novel argument that hissystem would still be valid if it lacked a divine basis. In this regard hepointed to the future by moving international law in a secular direction.This edition was abridged by removing most of the quotations from"ancient historians, orators, philosophers, and poets," which are identifiedin footnotes. As Whewell states in the preface, they tended to "confuse thesubject, obscure the reasoning, and weary the reader." By removing themhe enhanced clarity and reduced the bulk of the work by "more than ahalf" (vi).Hugo Grotius [1583-1645], generally acknowledged as the founderof international law, was an influential Dutch jurist, philosopher andtheologian. Originally published in 1625, De Jure Belli ac Pacis (Onthe Law of War and Peace, translated by Whewell as On the Rights ofWar and Peace) is widely considered to be the first modern treatise oninternational law.William Whewell [1794-1866] wrote on numerous subjects and is knownfor the breadth of his endeavors, and his influence on the philosophy ofscience. He was one of the founding members and an early president ofthe British Association for the Advancement of Science, a fellow of theRoyal Society, president of the Geological Society, and longtime Master ofTrinity College, Cambridge.