Hugo Grotius

Grotius on the Rights of War and Peace Hugo Grotius Abridged edition

Grotius, Hugo.

Whewell, William, Editor and Translator. Grotius on the Rights of War and Peace: An Abridged Translation. Edited for the Syndics of the University Press. Cambridge: John W. Parker, 1853. xxxix, 485 pp. Reprinted 2009, 2011 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN-13: 978-1- 58477-942-1. ISBN-13: 9781584779421; ISBN-10: 158477942X. Hardcover. New. $39.95


* Reprint of the sole edition of this translation. In this momentous work Grotius describes the situations in which war is a valid tool of law enforcement and outlines the principles of armed combat. Though based on Christian natural law, Grotius advanced the novel argument that his system would still be valid if it lacked a divine basis. In this regard he pointed to the future by moving international law in a secular direction. This edition was abridged by removing most of the quotations from "ancient historians, orators, philosophers, and poets," which are identified in footnotes. As Whewell states in the preface, they tended to "confuse the subject, obscure the reasoning, and weary the reader." By removing them he enhanced clarity and reduced the bulk of the work by "more than a half" (vi).