War and Peace

Alberico Gentili and the Early Modern Law of Nations

Series: 

Author:
Valentina Vadi
This treatise investigates the emergence of the early modern law of nations, focusing on Alberico Gentili’s contribution to the same. A religious refugee and Regius Professor at the University of Oxford, Alberico Gentili (1552–1608) lived in difficult times of religious wars and political persecution. He discussed issues that were topical in his lifetime and remain so today, including the clash of civilizations, the conduct of war, and the maintenance of peace. His idealism and political pragmatism constitute the principal reasons for the continued interest in his work. Gentili’s work is important for historical record, but also for better analysing and critically assessing the origins of international law and its current developments, as well as for elaborating its future trajectories.
Copyright Year:
2020
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-42603-0
Publication:
18 May 2020
Hardback
Availability:
Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-34524-9
Publication:
28 May 2020
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Valentina Vadi, Ph.D. (2009), European University Institute, is a Professor of International Law at Lancaster University, United Kingdom. She has published more than eighty articles in top journals, and several edited collections and monographs in various areas of public international law.
“Alberico Gentili (1552–1608), the Italian exile religionis causa who became Regius Professor of Civil Law in Elizabethan Oxford, is a complex, polyvalent figure. This emerges clearly from the ambitious and important monograph penned by Valentina Vadi, appropriately added to the already well-established Brill series, Studies in the History of International Law….War and Peace will surely become a solid work of reference for those interested in one of the key thinkers of the history of international thought.” -Alberto Clerici, in Grotiana, 43 (2022), 273-308.

“Vadi’s study engages with an impressive range of scholarship, and she thoughtfully weighs competing interpretations….she succeeds in providing a comprehensive study of Gentili’s elaborate thought.” -Peter Schröder, in Journal of the History of International Law, 23 (2021), 631-640

“The book is an excellent read, analytically rigorous and methodologically refined. It provides a great addition to international legal history. Among its many benefits, the book makes a summary and analysis of Gentili’s works written in Latin accessible, which are otherwise inaccessible to non-Latin speakers.” -Samuel Berhanu Woldemariam, in the Australian Yearbook of International Law, 39 (2022), 321-327
Foreword by David Sugarman F.R. Hist. S.
Preface
Acknowledgments
List of Illustrations
Abbreviations
Note on Terminology and Translations

1 The Varied Fortunes of Alberico Gentili
 1.1Introduction
 1.2Methodological Framework
 1.3Chapter Plan
 1.4The Fame and Fortunes of Alberico Gentili
 1.5The State of the Art
 1.6Key Challenges
 1.7Conclusions

2 The Adventurous Life of Alberico Gentili
 2.1Introduction
 2.2The Early Years in San Ginesio
 2.3Studying Law at the University of Perugia
 2.4The Italian Reformation
 2.5Gentili’s Religious Belief
 2.6Fleeing to London
 2.7The Oxonian Years
 2.8Family Life
 2.9Advocate at the Admiralty Court
 2.10Conclusions

3 Gentili, International Law, and the Humanities
 3.1Introduction
 3.2The Sixteenth-Century Revolution in the Methodology of Law
 3.3From Mos GallicusandMos Italicus towards theUsus Modernus
 3.4Gentili’s Sources
 3.5Gentili’s Method
 3.6Gentili and the Humanities
 3.7The Gentilian Sonnets
 3.8Debating Theatre in Elizabethan England
 3.9Dialectical Antinomies
 3.10Conclusions

4 Gentili and the Law of Nations
 4.1Introduction
 4.2The Founder(s) of International Law
 4.3The Notion of International Community
 4.4The Notion ofIus Gentium
 4.5Diplomatic Law
 4.6The Settlement of International Disputes
 4.7The Secularization of Legal Theory
 4.8Final Remarks

5 Gentili and the Law of War
 5.1Introduction
 5.2De iure belli
  5.2.1 Defining War
  5.2.2 The Causes of War
  5.2.3 Neutrality
  5.2.4 TheIus in Bello233
  5.2.5 TheIus Post Bellum239
 5.3Freedom of Religion
 5.4Preventive War
 5.5The Balance of Power
 5.6Critical Assessment
 5.7Conclusions

6 Gentili and the Law of the Sea
 6.1Introduction
 6.2The Sea: Between Freedom and Sovereignty
  6.2.1 The Freedom of the High Seas
  6.2.2 The Territorial Sea
  6.2.3 Impact
 6.3The Freedom of Communication, Movement and Commerce
  6.3.1 The Freedom of Communication
  6.3.2 The Freedom of Movement
  6.3.3 The Freedom of Commerce
 6.4Piracy and Privateering
 6.5Advocacy at the High Court of Admiralty
 6.6Critical Assessment
 6.7Conclusions

7 Gentili and the Injustice of Empire
 7.1Introduction
 7.2Cultural Diversity and the Law of Nations
  7.2.1 The Challenge of Cultural Diversity
  7.2.2 Slavery and Freedom
  7.2.3 Gross Violations of Natural Law
  7.2.4 Critical Assessment
 7.3The (Il)legitimacy of European Expansion
  7.3.1 Discovery
  7.3.2 Occupation
  7.3.3 Ius Praedicandi369
  7.3.4 Freedom of Movement
  7.3.5 Just War
  7.3.6 Converging Divergences
 7.4The Roman Model: Empire or Commonwealth?
  7.4.1 The Wars of the Romans
  7.4.2 Diverging Interpretations
  7.4.3 International Law and Empire
 7.5TheRegales Disputationes
  7.5.1 The Emergence of Absolutism and the Royal Disputations
  7.5.2 Conceptualizing Sovereignty
  7.5.3 The Royal Prerogative
  7.5.4 Taming the Leviathan?
  7.5.5 Critical Assessment
  7.5.6 Epilogue: Gentili and Hobbes
 7.6Critical Assessment
 7.7Conclusions

8 Alberico Gentili and Hugo Grotius
 8.1Introduction
 8.2Comparing Gentili and Grotius’ Respective Works
 8.3Diverging Writing Styles
 8.4On Method
 8.5Converging Arguments?
 8.6Critical Assessment
 8.7Conclusions
Conclusions
Bibliography
Index
The book will be of interest to international lawyers, political theorists, and international legal historians.
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