![handle is hein.journals/grotia14 and id is 1 raw text is: Reception of the Classical Tradition in
International Law:
Grotius' De Jure Belli ac Pacis
DAVID J. BEDERMAN
Hugo de Groot, also known by his Latin eponym, Grotius, has been called the
father of the law of nations.1 Although it hardly matters today whether he
deserves such credit, his treatise, De Jure Belli ac Pacis (On the Rights of War
and Peace), first published in 1625,2 justifiably remains a classic. His book has
been considered the first systematic treatment of international law. Adam
Smith, in lectures delivered in 1762 on the subject of moral philosophy and the
law of nations, said that Grotius seems to have been the first who attempted to
* Associate Professor of Law, Emory University, Atlanta, GA. A modified version of
this essay appeared in the Emory International Law Review 10 (1996).
I See, e.g., Maurice Bourquin, Grotius est-il le p~re du droit des gens?, in: Grandesfi-
gures et grandes oeuvres juridiques (Geneva 1948) (collecting sources suggesting that
Grotius was the progenitor of modern international law). But see Benedict Kingsbury -
Adam Roberts, Introduction: Grotian Thought in International Relations, in: Hedley
Bull, Benedict Kingsbury - Adam Roberts (eds.), Hugo Grotius and International Rela-
tions (Oxford 1990), 1, 3 (suggesting that scholars have (for the most part) long-ceased
to debate the question mal pose whether or not Grotius was 'the father of the law of
nations'...).
2 The standard English text of this work is the Francis W. Kelsey translation, Classics of
International Law ed. 1925 (number 3, volume 2 of the series). This edition was drawn
from the second, vastly revised version by Grotius in 1646, near the conclusion of the
Thirty Years' War. See Edward Gordon, Book Review, American Journal of Jnternatio-
nal Law 89 (1995), 461, 463 (reviewing Onuma Yasuaki (ed.), A Normative Approach
to War: Peace, War and Justice in Hugo Grotius (Oxford 1993)) (noting that Grotius
made nearly a thousand corrections to the first edition).
The majority of references in this essay to De Jure Belli ac Pacis will be to the Kel-
sey translation [hereinafter 1646]. In a few instances I have chosen to cite the 1901
translation by A.C. Campbell, published as part of the Universal Classics Library. This
was a reprint of the first, 1625 edition of the book [hereinafter 1625]. References will
be made to pages in either the Campbell [1625] translation or Kelsey translation
[1646], as well as to standard indications of the relevant passage (including book,
chapter, section, sub-section).
Henceforth, De Jure Belli ac Pacis will be abbreviated DJBaP in the citations.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/grotia14&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most