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Grotius on the rights of war and peace: an abridged translation

Grotius on the rights of war and peace: an abridged translation

William Whewell
0/5 ( ratings)
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PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

The Civil Law, both that of Rome, and that of each nation in particular, has been treated of, -with a view either to illustrate it or to present it in a compendious form, by many. But International Law, that which regards the mutual relations of several Peoples, or Rulers of Peoples, whether it proceed from nature, or be instituted by divine command, or introduced by custom and tacit compact, has been touched on by few, and has been by no one treated as a whole in an orderly manner. And yet that this be done, concerns the human race.

2 For rightly did Cicero call that an excellent science which includes the alliances, treaties, and covenants of peoples, kings, and nations, and all the rights of war and peace. And Euripides prefers this science to the knowledge of things human and divine; for he makes Helen address Theonoe thus :

'twould be a base reproach

That you, who know th' affairs of gods and men Present and future, know not what is just.

3 And such a work is the more necessary on this account; that there are not wanting persons in our own time, and there have been also in former times persons, who have despised what has been done in this province of jurisprudence, so far as to hold that no such thing existed, except as a mere name. Every one can quote the saying of Euphemius in Thucydides;—that for a king or a city which has an empire to maintain, nothing is unjust which is and to the same effect is the saying, that for those who have supreme power, the equity is where the strength and that other, that state affairs cannot be carried on without doing some wrong. To this we must add that the controversies which arise between peoples and kings have commonly war for their arbiter. And that war is far from having anything to do with rights, is not only the opinion of the vulgar, but even learned and prudent men often let fall expressions which favour such an opinion. It is very usual to put rights and arms in opposition to each other. And accordingly Ennius

They have recourse to arms, and not to rights. And Horace describes Achilles

Rights he spurns As things not made for him, claims all by arms.

And another poet introduces a warrior, who when he enters on war,



Now, Peace and Law, I bid you both farewell.

Antigonus laughed at a man, who, when he was besieging his enemies' cities, brought to him a Dissertation on Justice. And Marius said that tho din of arms prevented his hearing the laws. Even Pompey, who was so modest that he blushed when he had to speak in public, had tho face to say, Am I who am in arms to think of the laws?

4 In Christian writers many passages of a like sense let that one of Tertullian suffice for Deceit, cruelty, injustice, are the proper business of battles. They who hold this opinion will undoubtedly meet our purpose, [of establishing the Rights of War,] with tho expressions in

You that attempt to fix by certain Rules Tilings so uncertain, may with like success Contrive a way of going mad by reason.

5 But since our discussion of Rights is worthless if there are no Rights, it will serve both to recommend our work, and to protect it from objections, if we refute briefly this very grave error. And that we may not have to deal with a mob of opponents, let us appoint them an advocate to speak for them. And whom can we select for this office, fitter than Carneades, who had made such wonderful progress in his suspension of opinion, the supreme aim of his Academical Philosophy, that he could work the machinery of his eloquence for falsehood as easily as for truth. He, then, undertook to argue against justice; and especially the kind of justice of which we here treat; and in doing so, he found no argument stronger than — that men had, as utility prompted, established Rights, different as their manners differed; and even in the same society, often changed with the change of but Natural Law there is ...
Language
English
Pages
562
Format
Kindle Edition
Release
May 13, 2012

Grotius on the rights of war and peace: an abridged translation

William Whewell
0/5 ( ratings)
Read Download
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

The Civil Law, both that of Rome, and that of each nation in particular, has been treated of, -with a view either to illustrate it or to present it in a compendious form, by many. But International Law, that which regards the mutual relations of several Peoples, or Rulers of Peoples, whether it proceed from nature, or be instituted by divine command, or introduced by custom and tacit compact, has been touched on by few, and has been by no one treated as a whole in an orderly manner. And yet that this be done, concerns the human race.

2 For rightly did Cicero call that an excellent science which includes the alliances, treaties, and covenants of peoples, kings, and nations, and all the rights of war and peace. And Euripides prefers this science to the knowledge of things human and divine; for he makes Helen address Theonoe thus :

'twould be a base reproach

That you, who know th' affairs of gods and men Present and future, know not what is just.

3 And such a work is the more necessary on this account; that there are not wanting persons in our own time, and there have been also in former times persons, who have despised what has been done in this province of jurisprudence, so far as to hold that no such thing existed, except as a mere name. Every one can quote the saying of Euphemius in Thucydides;—that for a king or a city which has an empire to maintain, nothing is unjust which is and to the same effect is the saying, that for those who have supreme power, the equity is where the strength and that other, that state affairs cannot be carried on without doing some wrong. To this we must add that the controversies which arise between peoples and kings have commonly war for their arbiter. And that war is far from having anything to do with rights, is not only the opinion of the vulgar, but even learned and prudent men often let fall expressions which favour such an opinion. It is very usual to put rights and arms in opposition to each other. And accordingly Ennius

They have recourse to arms, and not to rights. And Horace describes Achilles

Rights he spurns As things not made for him, claims all by arms.

And another poet introduces a warrior, who when he enters on war,



Now, Peace and Law, I bid you both farewell.

Antigonus laughed at a man, who, when he was besieging his enemies' cities, brought to him a Dissertation on Justice. And Marius said that tho din of arms prevented his hearing the laws. Even Pompey, who was so modest that he blushed when he had to speak in public, had tho face to say, Am I who am in arms to think of the laws?

4 In Christian writers many passages of a like sense let that one of Tertullian suffice for Deceit, cruelty, injustice, are the proper business of battles. They who hold this opinion will undoubtedly meet our purpose, [of establishing the Rights of War,] with tho expressions in

You that attempt to fix by certain Rules Tilings so uncertain, may with like success Contrive a way of going mad by reason.

5 But since our discussion of Rights is worthless if there are no Rights, it will serve both to recommend our work, and to protect it from objections, if we refute briefly this very grave error. And that we may not have to deal with a mob of opponents, let us appoint them an advocate to speak for them. And whom can we select for this office, fitter than Carneades, who had made such wonderful progress in his suspension of opinion, the supreme aim of his Academical Philosophy, that he could work the machinery of his eloquence for falsehood as easily as for truth. He, then, undertook to argue against justice; and especially the kind of justice of which we here treat; and in doing so, he found no argument stronger than — that men had, as utility prompted, established Rights, different as their manners differed; and even in the same society, often changed with the change of but Natural Law there is ...
Language
English
Pages
562
Format
Kindle Edition
Release
May 13, 2012

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