"Ancient Caesarian lawyers" in a state of nature: Roman tradition and natural rights in Hugo Grotius's De iure praedae

Political Theory

Volumn 34, Issue 3, 2006, Pages 328-350

  Straumann, Benjamin ^a  

^a NEW YORK UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Grotius; Just war; Liberty; Natural rights; Roman law

Indexed keywords

EID: 33646437228     PISSN: 00905917     EISSN: 15527476     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0090591706286459     Document Type: Review

References (122)

1. Thomas Hobbes, The Elements of Law, Natural and Politic (1640), ed. F. Tönnies, 2nd ed, (London, 1969), 75.
2. Hugo Grotius, De Jure Belli ac Pads Libri Tres. trans. F. W. Kelsey, ed. J. B. Scott. The Classics of International Law 3, vol. 2 (Oxford, 1925). abbreviated IBP.
3. For the original, see De iure belli ac pacis libri tres, curavit B. J. A. de Kanter-van Hettinga Tromp, additional notes by R. Feenstra, C. E. Persenaire (Lugduni Batavorum, 1939, reprint Aalen, 1993).
4. Hugo Grotius, The Free Sea; trans. by Richard Hakluyt with William Welwod's critique and Grotius's reply, ed. D. Armitage (Indianapolis, 2004), 66.
5. Grotius, Free Sea, 67.
6. Reminiscent of today's debates about the sources of international law; see. for example, R. Higgins, Problems and Process: International Law and How We Use it (Oxford. 1994). 17.
7. See the articles in H. Blom, L. Winkel (eds.). Grotius and the Stoa (Assen, 2004).
8. See R. Fruin, "An Unpublished Work of Hugo Grotius's," trans. from an essay in Dutch (1868), Bibliotheca Visseriana 5 (1925): 39-42:
9. see also M. v. Ittersum. Profit and Principle: Hugo Grotius, Natural Rights Theories and the Rise of Dutch Power in the East Indies, 1595-1615 (Leiden. 2005).
10. See J.Tully, A Discourse on Property (Cambridge, 1980), 68-72, 80-85, 90, 114, 168;R.
11. Tuck, Natural Rights Theories (Cambridge, 1979), 58-81;
12. Tuck id., Philosophy and Government 1572-1651 (Cambridge, 1993), 137-176;
13. Tuck id., The Rights of War and Peace (Oxford, 1999), 78-108.
14. Tuck, Rights of War, 14f.
15. Tuck, Rights of War, Ibid., 9.
16. For a broad overview of the connection between natural rights, imperial expansion and the Roman legal tradition, see A. Pagden, "Human Rights, Natural Rights, and Europe's Imperial Legacy," Political Theory 31 (2003): 171-99.
17. Benjamin Constant, Political Writings, ed. B. Fontana (Cambridge, 1988), 307-28. Constant mentions Condorcet as an earlier exponent of this view;
18. see J. A. N. de Caritat Condorcet, Ecrits sur l'instruction publique, vol. 1 (Paris. 1989), 57.
19. For an account of this tradition that criticizes ancient political thought by reference to a perceived dichotomy between "ancient" and "modern liberty." see W. Nippel, "Antike und moderne Freiheit," in W. Jens, B. Seidensticker (eds.), Ferne und Nähe der Antike (Berlin, 2003), 49-68.
20. showing a line of argument from Constant over Fustel de Coulanges, Jacob Burckhardt and Lord Acton to Max Weber, and influencing twentieth-century historians such as Moses Finley and Paul Veyne. Nippel omits, however, both Condorcet and Isaiah Berlin's "Two Concepts of Liberty," printed in id., Four Essays on Liberty (Oxford, 1969).
21. Especially in M. Villey's work, cited by Berlin in his 'Two Concepts"; see Villey, "Les origines de la notion de droit subjectif," in id., Leçons d'histoire de la philosophie du droit, 2nd ed. (Paris, 1962), 221-50;
22. Villey id., La formation de la pensée juridique moderne. 4th ed. (Paris, 1975), This view has prevailed;
23. see T. Kammasch, S. Schwarz, "Menschenrechte," in Der Neue Pauly, vol. 15, 1 (Stuttgart, 2001), 383-91.
24. But see, for a Greek origin of rights, F. D. Miller, Nature, Justice, and Rights in Aristotle's Politics (Oxford, 1995);
25. P. Mitsis, "The Stoic Origin of Natural Rights." in K. Ierodiakonou (ed.), Topics in Stoic Philosophy (Oxford, 1999). 153-77.
26. The question of whether the Greek Stoics possessed a concept of rights remains open, and need not concern us here: see for an overview J. Miller, "Stoics, Grotius and Spinoza on Moral Deliberation," in id., B. Inwood (eds.), Hellenistic and Early Modern Philosophy (Cambridge, 2003), 117-120.
27. For a convincing account of subjective use of ius in Roman law, see C. Donahue, "Ius in the Subjective Sense," in D. Maffei (ed.), A Ennio Cortese, vol. 1 (Roma. 2001), 506-35.
28. See, for example, J. G. A. Pocock, The Machiavellian Moment (Princeton, 1975).
29. See E. Nelson, The Greek Tradition in Republican Thought (Cambridge, 2004).
30. For an exponent of "modern" liberty, showing J. S. Mill's use of Athenian democracy, see N. Urbinati, Mill on Democracy (Chicago, 2002).
31. See Q. Skinner, Liberty Before Liberalism (Cambridge. 1998);
32. see also Q. Skinner, id. "The Idea of Negative Liberty," in R. Rorty et al. (eds.), Philosophy in History (Cambridge, 1984), 193-221.
33. Grotius's use of Stoic natural law and his attempt to establish a just war theory both do not sit comfortably with "civil" philosophy. But see A. Brett, "Natural Right and Civil Community: The Civil Philosophy of Hugo Grotius," The Historical Journal 45, 1 (2002): 31-51.
34. See Hugo Grotius, Mare liberuin, The Freedom of the Seas, trans. R. van Deman Magoffin, ed., intr. by J. B. Scott (New York, 1916).
35. abbreviated ML. In the following, when De iure praedae (abbreviated IPC) or ML are cited in English, the translation of IPC will be used, contained in Hugo Grotius, De lure Praedae. Commentary on the Law of Prize and Booty.
36. trans. G. L. Williams, with W. H. Zeydel, ed. J. B. Scott, The Classics of International Law 22, vol. 1 (Oxford, 1950).
37. The translation in ML will be used for passages not contained in IPC. Some of the translations have been modified. For the original, see Hugo Grotius. De iure praedae commentarius. A Collotype Reproduction of the Original Manuscript of 1604, ed. J. B. Scott, The Classics of International Law 22, vol. 2 (Oxford, 1950).
38. C. H. Alexandrowicz, An Introduction to the History of the Law of Nations in the East Indies (Oxford, 1967), 61.
39. See G. Fahl, Der Grundsatz der Freiheit der Meere in der Staatenpraxis von 1493-1649 (Köln, 1969), 48;
40. W. G. Grewe, Epochen der Völkerrechtsgeschichte, 2nd ed. (Baden-Baden, 1988), 300f.
41. See J. Fisch, Die europäische Expansion und das Völkerrecht (Stuttgart, 1984), 46-54; Fahl, Grundsatz, 129f.
42. C. G. Roelofsen, "Grotius and the State Practice of his Day," Grotiana New Series 10 (1989); 46.
43. C. G. Roelofsen, Grotiana New Series, Ibid., 45.
44. Cic. leg. 1, 14. Translations of De legibus and De re publica are taken from Cicero, On the Commonwealth; and, On the Laws, ed. J. E. G. Zetzel (Cambridge, 1999).
45. Cic. leg. 1, 17.
46. Cic. leg. 1, 18.
47. See A. A. Long, D. N. Sedley, The Hellenistic Philosophers (Cambridge, 1987), fragment 67 R (hereafter cited as LS).
48. For the dating, see A. R. Dyck, A Commentary on Cicero, De Legibus (Ann Arbor, 2004), 5-7.
49. See R. Schnepf, "Naturrecht und Geschichte bei Hugo Grotius," Zeitschrift für Neuere Rechtsgeschichte 20 (1998): 1-14;
50. T. Tanaka, "Grotius' Method: With Special Reference to Prolegomena," in Y. Onuma (ed.), A Normative Approach to War (Oxford, 1993), 11-31:
51. B. P. Vermeulen, "Grotius' methodology and system of international law," Netherlands International Law Review 30 (1983): 377-78;
52. B. P. Vermeulen, id., "God, wil en rede in Hugo de Groots natuurrecht," Wijsgerig perspectief of maatschappij en wetenschap 23 (1982/83): 54-59;
53. A. Dufour, "L'influence de la méthodologie des sciences physiques et mathématiques sur les fondateurs de l'école du droit naturel moderne (Grotius, Hobbes, Pufendorf)," Grotiana New Series 1 (1980): 33-52;
54. W. Röd, Geometrischer Geist und Naturrecht (München, 1970).
55. See R. Tuck, "Grotius, Carneades and Hobbes," Grotiana New Series 4 (1983): 43-62.
56. As originally put forward by Carneades in Cicero's De re publica. cited in IBP prol. 5.
57. As I will try to argue elsewhere.
58. Grotius cites the Institutio oratorio twenty-seven times in IBP, and twice in IPC. Grotius had excerpted the whole work, as his manuscript notes at Leiden University Library show (BPL 922 IV, fols. 437-144v), and owned a copy in 1618: P. C. Molhuysen, "De bibliotheek van Hugo de Groot in 1618," Mededeelingen der Nederlandsche Akademie van Wetenschapen, Nieuwe Reeks, Deel 6 (1943): 58, no. 211.
59. IBP prol. 40.
60. See H. Lausberg, Handbuch der literarischen Rhetorik, 3r ded. (Stuttgart, 1990), § 348.
61. Vitoria was probably the first to distinguish between the two types of law, followed by de Soto, Molina, and Suarez.
62. By contrast, Gentili, Hobbes, and Pufendorf thought of ius gentium as identical with or a direct derivation from natural law.
63. See IPC 12, fol. 100' (=ML 5, p. 22).
64. With a reference to Quint, inst. 3, 4.
65. A terminology used only in IBP.
66. See Lausberg, Handbuch, § 419.
67. F. Grunert, Normbegründung und politische Legitimität (Tübingen, 2000), 71 misses the rhetorical background of Grotius's use of induction.
68. Cic. leg. 1, 24. For the argument from consensus in ancient philosophy, see D. Obbink, '"What all men believe - must be true': Common Conceptions and consensio omnium in Aristotle and Hellenistic Philosophy," Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 10 (1992): 195.
69. Obbink, "Common Conceptions," 197.
70. Citing Cic, leg. 1, 17: cf. above, 6.
71. See IPC 2, fols. 5f. for the two rules (regulae) constituting the formal sources of law for the primary and the secondary law of nature, and IPC 2, fol. 12' for the eighth rule, the source for the secondary law of nations.
72. Tuck, Rights of War, 5.
73. Tuck, Rights of War, Ibid., 6.
74. R. Shaver has argued that Grotius's stance is based rather on man's social nature; see Shaver, "Grotius on Scepticism and Self-interest," Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 78 (1996): 27-17. He neglects, however, the fact that Grotius has drawn on specifically Stoic arguments from the doctrine of oikeiosis, as I will try to argue elsewhere.
75. Morality according to Hobbes is not constituted by the sovereign: the content of morality - which in Hobbes's case does not rely on regard for other people's interests - can be known even in a state of nature, although it may not be rational to abide by it.
76. These claims differ from Hobbes's natural freedom in a way that might be described in terms of Hohfeld's differentiation between claims and privileges, Hobbes's freedom resembling Hohfeld's privilege. See Hohfeld, Fundamental Legal Conceptions (New Haven, CT, 1946), 36:
77. see also N. Malcolm, "Hobbes's Theory of International Relations," in id., Aspects of Hobhes (Oxford, 2002), 445.
78. Cf. Cic. Mil. 10.
79. For the relation between Cicero and the original Carneadean debate, see J. E. G. Zetzel, "Natural Law and Poetic Justice: A Carneadean Debate in Cicero and Virgil," Classical Philology-91, 1 (1996): 297-19.
80. See Tuck. "Grotius, Carneades";
81. Tuck. id., "The 'Modern' Theory of Natural Law," in A. Pagden (ed.), The Languages of Political Theory in Early-Modern Europe (Cambridge, 1987), 99-119;
82. K. Haakonssen, "Hugo Grotius and the History of Political Thought," Political Theory 13 (1985): 239-65;
83. K. Haakonssen, id., Natural Law and Moral Philosophy (Cambridge, 1996), 26-30.
84. For the fetiales, see S. Albert, Bellum Iustum, Frankfurter Althistorische Studien 10 (Kallmünz, 1980), 12-16.
85. But see C. Saulnier, "Le rôle des prêtres fétiaux et l'application du 'ius fetiale' à Rome," Revue historique de droit français et étranger 58 (1980): 171-99, arguing that the fetiales were a creation of the time of Augustus.
86. For a skeptical, almost "Carneadean" account of the Roman just war theory, see P. A. Brunt, "Laus imperii," in P. D. A. Garnsey, C. R. Whittaker (eds.). Imperialism in the Ancient World (Cambridge, 1978), 159-91, at 175-78.
87. The main passages are Cic. rep. 2, 31:3, 35; off. 1.36. See J. Barnes, "Cicéron et la guerre juste", Bulletin de la Société française de Philosophie 80 (1986): 37-80.
88. As described, for example, by Livy, 1, 32, 5-14.
89. Isid. etym. 18, 1, 2-3 (=Cic. rep. 3, 35).
90. Citing Cic. off. 1, 36. (Curiously, Grotius also refers to Cic. rep. 2, 31 in his marginal notes, although it is unclear how he could know about this passage, NB in a part of the work lost until 1819.)
91. A reading borne out by the passage. But see Barnes, "Cicéron," 48.
92. Grotius refers to Cic. Mil. as supportive of that view.
93. Professor David Armitage pointed out to me that individuals do not play an important role in IPC. However, both in Theses LVI (as we will see) and IBP, the doctrine of subjective rights explicitly proceeds from the individual. Moreover, Grotius's use of Cic. Mil. makes it clear that Grotius, in IPC, in his description of the natural state starts from individuals.
94. Cited in Scott, "Introductory Note," in ML, ix.
95. For the original, see John Selden, Mare clausum (London, 1636), 3.
96. See IPC 12, fol. 100' (=ML 5, p. 22).
97. Cic. off. 1, 21. Translations are from Cicero, On Duties, ed. M. T. Griffin and E. M. Atkins (Cambridge, 1991).
98. Cic. off. 1, 20.
99. Cic. of. 1, 51.
100. As opposed to land. See for the occupation of land as res nullius Hugo Grotius. The Antiquity of the Batavian Republic, ed. and trans. J. Waszink (Assen. 2000), 56f.
101. The three passages adduced from the Digest are from book 41 (acquisition of ownership): Dig. 41, 1, 14; 41, 1, 50: 41, 3, 45. One is from book 43, dealing with interdicts preventing anything from being done in public places (Dig. 43, 8, 3f.), and one from book 47,which deals with obligations arising from delicts (Dig. 47, 10, 13, 7). The rest are from Dig. 1, 8, 10: 8, 4, 13.
102. For Roman law influence on international law, see A. Nussbaum, "The Significance of Roman Law in the History of International Law," University of Pennsylvania Law Review 100 (1951-52): 678-87.
103. For Grotius and Roman law, see W. J. M. van Eysinga, "Quelques observations sur Grotius et le droit romain." Grotiana 10 (1942-47): 18-28;
104. C. van Vollenhoven, The Framework of Grotius' Book De lure Belli ac Pads (1625) (Amsterdam, 1931), 103.
105. Grotius refers here to Cic. off, 1, 51.
106. Citing Ulp, Dig. 47, 10, 13, 7.
107. At least not in terms of the passage cited in the marginal notes (Dig. 43, 8, 2, 9): Dig. 47, 10, 13, 7 might give an interdict.
108. Grotius has in mind a prohibitory interdict prohibiting violence against the last rightful possessor of a thing and allowing such a possessor to recover possession; IPC 12, fol. 108 (=ML 5, p. 44).
109. Punishment constitutes a cause of war, because guilt (culpa) creates an obligation: see IPC 12, fol. 119.
110. Punishment as a natural cause of war gave rise to Grotius's theory, anticipating Locke, that the private individual in the state of nature has a right of punishment; IPC 8, fols. 40f.
111. See Tuck, Rights of War, 82.
112. See also B. Straumann, "The Right to Punish as a Just Cause of War in Hugo Grotius' Natural Law," Studies in the History of Ethics 2 (2006). http://www.historyofethics.org/.).
113. Adducing Ulp. Dig. 43, 8, 2, 9; 47, 10, 13, 7.
114. Citing Ulp. Dig. 43, 12, 1, 17.
115. For the notion of subjective rights in Grotius's work, see P. Haggenmacher, "Droits subjectifs et système juridique chez Grotius," in L. Foisneau (ed.), Politique, droit et théologie chez Bodin, Grotius et Hobbes (Paris. 1997), 73-130.
116. Grotius, Free Sea. 107.
117. But see Donahue, "Ius."
118. As suggested by G. Pugliese, '"Res corporales', 'res incorporates' e il problema del diritto soggetivo," Studi in onore di Vincenzo Arangio-Ruiz 3 (1954): 223-60.
119. The manuscript is at Leiden University Library: Theses sive quaestiones LVI, BPL 9221. fols. 287-92. abbreviated as TQ. Citations refer to folio and thesis number, translations are mine. I would like to thank Professor Peter Borschberg for discussing the manuscript and for sharing his unpublished draft, "Grotius and the Social Contract Theory: A Preliminary Study of the Unpublished Theses LVI," to which my interpretation of the Theses LVI is heavily indebted. I am following Borschberg with the dating.
120. See IPC 2, fols. 5f.
121. H. S. Maine, Ancient Law, 3rd ed. (London. 1866), 97.
122. See A. MacIntyre, After Virtue, 2nd ed. (Notre Dame. 1984), 257.