We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Hugo Grotius and the Freedom of the Seas.
- Authors
Thornton, Helen
- Abstract
This essay provides a brief introduction to the ideas of the Dutch lawyer Hugo Grotius as set out in his Mare Liberum (The Freedom of the Seas) of 1609. It begins by outlining the background to Grotius' work and the incident he set out to justify - the seizure of a Portuguese ship by the Dutch East India Company in the Straits of Singapore and the resulting prize court hearing in which the Dutch were awarded the prize. The essay then goes on to examine Grotius' argument for freedom of the seas, along with freedom of navigation and freedom of trade. Grotius claimed that Portuguese attempts to stop the Dutch from trading in the East Indies could only be legitimate if they could prove that they owned the seas. He argued his case by appealing to the laws of nature, evidence of which he thought could be found in the natural world. According to the law of nature, which was unchangeable, the sea was the common property of all people. Portuguese claims of sovereignty over the seas, based on discovery, first occupation and the donation of various Popes, along with their attempts to prevent freedom of access to, and trade in, the Indies, were contrary to the law of nature. According to the laws of nature breaches of natural law must be punished. Thus, the Dutch, or any other individual or nation, were justified in punishing the Portuguese for their appropriation of common property and then demanding, or taking, reparations from them. As a result, the Dutch East India Company's seizure of the Portuguese ship was legitimate. The essay concludes by commenting on Grotius' legacy to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, along with a brief mention of the criticisms of Grotius by other participants in the seventeenth-century debate - the advocates of closed seas - and suggestions for further areas of research.
- Subjects
ESSAYS; GROTIUS, Hugo, 1583-1645; MARITIME law; SEARCHES &; seizures (Law); FREEDOM of the seas; NEDERLANDSCHE Oost-Indische Cie.; NATURAL law
- Publication
International Journal of Maritime History, 2004, Vol 16, Issue 2, p17
- ISSN
0843-8714
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1177/084387140401600203