Hugo Grotius

The history of "Commentary on the Law of Prize and Booty "is complex. When Grotius's personal papers were auctioned in The Hague in 1864, Dutch scholars discovered that his famous Mare Liberum was just one chapter in a manuscript of 163 folios, written in justification of Jacob van Heemskerck's capture of the Santa Catarina, a Portuguese merchantman, in the Straits of Singapore in February 1603. A prominent Dutch historian of the nineteenth century, Robert Fruin, persuaded the classical scholar H. G. Hamaker to transcribe and publish it, and the Latin text was issued in 1868. This Liberty Fund edition is based on the one prepared by Gwladys L. Williams and Walter H. Zeydel for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. It combines a revised text and new material, making it a highly attractive edition of a work that is difficult to obtain.

The history of "Commentary on the Law of Prize and Booty "is complex. When Grotius's personal papers were auctioned in The Hague in 1864, Dutch scholars discovered that his famous Mare Liberum was just one chapter in a manuscript of 163 folios, written in justification of Jacob van Heemskerck's capture of the Santa Catarina, a Portuguese merchantman, in the Straits of Singapore in February 1603. A prominent Dutch historian of the nineteenth century, Robert Fruin, persuaded the classical scholar H. G. Hamaker to transcribe and publish it, and the Latin text was issued in 1868. This Liberty Fund edition is based on the one prepared by Gwladys L. Williams and Walter H. Zeydel for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. It combines a revised text and new material, making it a highly attractive edition of a work that is difficult to obtain.

Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) verfasste 1604/05 ein Rechtsgutachten f r die Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, aus dem zu seiner Zeit nur ein Kapitel, "Mare liberum", ver ffentlicht wurde. Hierin verteidigt Grotius das Recht des jungen niederl ndischen Staates auf freie Schifffahrt und freien Handel und weist den Anspruch der Spanier, Portugiesen und Engl nder auf ein Monopol im Kolonialhandel zur ck, indem er den Rechtsgrundsatz formuliert, dass niemand ein Eigentum an den Meeren beanspruchen d rfe und diese folglich allen Nationen als internationale Gew sser f r die Handelsschifffahrt zur Verf gung stehen m ssten. Erg nzt um die Einschr nkung der sog. Dreimeilenzone wurde "Von der Freiheit des Meeres" zur Grundlage f r das internationale Seerecht.