Hugo Grotius on the Law of War and Peace: Student Edition

by Hugo Grotius, Stephen C. Neff (Editor)

Despite its significant influence on international law, international relations, natural law and political thought in general, Grotius's Law of War and Peace has been virtually unavailable for many decades. Stephen Neff's edited and annotated version of the text rectifies this situation. Containing the substantive portion of the classic text, but shorn of extraneous material, this edited and annotated edition of one of the classic works of Western legal and political thought is intended for students and teachers in four primary areas: history of international law, history of political thought, history of international relations and history of philosophy.

Genres: Law, Politics, Academic, History

548 pages, Paperback

First published July 31, 2012

About the author

Hugo Grotius [Hugo, Huigh or Hugeianus de Groot] was a towering figure in philosophy, political theory, law and associated fields during the seventeenth century and for hundreds of years afterwards. His work ranged over a wide array of topics, though he is best known to philosophers today for his contributions to the natural law theories of normativity which emerged in the later medieval and early modern periods.

Reviews

[Davis Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read most of this whopping tome for a philosophy course—and it's still a severe abridgment, containing less than half of Grotius's full work. Notwithstanding his significance as a "dogmatician" of law and one of the first great anticipators of the Enlightenment, there's a perfectly good reason why you never see Grotius on any of those Great Books lists: he's dull as dishwater to read! Much of what he says is close to being common sense (or "ratio naturalis," as he would undoubtedly phrase it) because he's not trying to philosophize, but codify. When he does express opinions, they are often confusing and contradictory. There are certainly sections that are worth reading and both interesting and important for understanding the development of Western political, legal, and contract theory; but it's still far from a must-read. On the plus side, this is one of the most helpful scholarly editions of anything I've ever read—the notes are almost overwhelmingly copious, even if they're obviously aimed toward law students rather than philosophers.

[Parker Samelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thankful for Stephen Neff for putting together the accessible translation with helpful footnotes to approach this complex and aged book. Fascinating to drill down all the way to the foundations of international law.