Hugo Grotius 1583 – 1645
Hugo Grotius was a Dutch jurist and philosopher who is widely regarded as the founder of modern international law. Against the religious and dynastic justifications for war that dominated his age, he argued for a body of natural law binding on sovereigns and grounded in human reason and sociability. His De Iure Belli ac Pacis distinguished just from unjust war, articulated the rights and duties of states in their relations with one another, and opened the path to later thinking about international order. His Mare Liberum defended the freedom of the seas against Iberian claims to monopoly.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Dutch
- Era
- Modern
- Movements
- Early Modern, Political
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Hugo Grotius:
“A man cannot govern a nation if he cannot govern a city; he cannot govern a city if he cannot govern a family; he cannot govern a family unless he can govern himself; and he cannot govern himself unless his passions are subject to reason.”
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Attributed to Hugo Grotius:
“Even the will of an omnipotent being cannot change or abrogate the law of nature.”
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Attributed to Hugo Grotius:
“The state is a perfect body of free men, united for the enjoyment of right and the common interest.”
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Attributed to Hugo Grotius:
“Where the rights of war are unsettled, those of peace will be unstable.”
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Attributed to Hugo Grotius:
“The sea is common to all men and cannot be the property of any one nation.”