The Online Library of Liberty

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• Introductory Note
• Translator’s Preface
• Ad Principes Popvlosqve Liberos Orbis Christiani
• Capvt I: Iure Gentium Quibusvis Ad Quosvis Liberam Esse Navigationem
• Capvt II: Lusitanos Nullum Habere Ius Dominii In Eos Indos Ad Quos Batavi Navigant Titulo Inventionis
• Capvt III: Lusitanos In Indos Non Habere Ius Dominii Titulo Donationis Pontificiae
• Capvt IV: Lusitanos In Indos Non Habere Ius Dominii Titulo Belli
• Capvt V: Mare Ad Indos Aut Ius Eo Navigandi Non Esse Proprium Lusitanorum Titulo Occupationis
• Capvt VI: Mare Aut Ius Navigandi Proprium Non Esse Lusitanorum Titulo Donationis Pontificiae
• Capvt VII: Mare Aut Ius Navigandi Proprium Non Esse Lusitanorum Titulo Praescriptionis Aut Consuetudinis
• Capvt VIII: Iure Gentium Inter Quosvis Liberam Esse Mercaturam
• Capvt IX: Mercaturam Cum Indis Propriam Non Esse Lusitanorum Titulo Occupationis
• Capvt X: Mercaturam Cum Indis Propriam Non Esse Lusitanorum Titulo Donationis Pontificiae
• Capvt XI: Mercaturam Cum Indis Non Esse Lusitanorum Propriam Iure Praescriptionis Aut Consuetudinis
• Capvt XII: Nulla Aequitate Niti Lusitanos In Prohibendo Commercio
• Capvt XIII: Batavis Ius Commercii Indicani Qua Pace, Qua Indutiis, Qua Bello Retinendum
• Cvm Svb Hoc Tempvs Plvrimae Regis Hispaniarvm Litterae In Manvs Nostras Venissent, Qvibvs Ipsivs Et Lvsitanorvm Institvtvm Manifeste Detegitvr, Operae Pretivm Visvm Est Ex Iis, Qvae Pleraeqve Eodem Erant Argvmento, Binas In Latinvm Sermonem Translatas Exh
• To the Rulers and to the Free and Independent Nations of Christendom
• Chapter I: By the Law of Nations Navigation Is Free to All Persons Whatsoever
• Chapter II: The Portuguese Have No Right By Title of Discovery to Sovereignty Over the East Indies to Which the Dutch Make Voyages
• Chapter III: The Portuguese Have No Right of Sovereignty Over the East Indies By Virtue of Title Based On the Papal Donation
• Chapter IV: The Portuguese Have No Right of Sovereignty Over the East Indies By Title of War
• Chapter V: Neither the Indian Ocean Nor the Right of Navigation Thereon Belongs to the Portuguese By Title of Occupation
• Chapter VI: Neither the Sea Nor the Right of Navigation Thereon Belongs to the Portuguese By Virtue of Title Based On the Papal Donation
• Chapter VII: Neither the Sea Nor the Right of Navigation Thereon Belongs to the Portuguese By Title of Prescription Or Custom
• Chapter VIII: By the Law of Nations Trade Is Free to All Persons Whatsoever
• Chapter IX: Trade With the East Indies Does Not Belong to the Portuguese By Title of Occupation
• Chapter X: Trade With the East Indies Does Not Belong to the Portuguese By Virtue of Title Based On the Papal Donation
• Chapter XI: Trade With the East Indies Does Not Belong to the Portuguese By Title of Prescription Or Custom
• Chapter XII: The Portuguese Prohibition of Trade Has No Foundation In Equity
• Chapter XIII: The Dutch Must Maintain Their Right of Trade With the East Indies By Peace, By Treaty, Or By War
• Appendix Two Letters of Philip Iii, King of Spain
• Letter I
• Letter Ii

HVGONIS GROTII MARE LIBERVM sive DE IVRE QVOD BATAVIS COMPETIT AD INDICANA COMMERCIA, DISSERTATIO

1608

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

In 1608 Spain and Holland began negotiations which, on April 9, 1609, resulted in the truce of Antwerp for the period of 12 years, and, in the course of the negotiations, Spain tried to secure from the United Provinces a renunciation of their right to trade in the East and West Indies. The Dutch East India Company thereupon, it would appear, requested Grotius to publish that part of his brief dealing with the freedom of the seas. This was done under the title of Mare Liberum, with such changes as were necessary to enable it to stand alone.

In this battle of books, to use the happy expression of Professor Nys, the Dutch Scholar has had the better of his English antagonist. If it cannot be said that Grotius wears his learning “lightly like a flower”, the treatise of Selden is, in comparison, over-freighted with it; the Mare Liberum is still an open book, the Mare Clausum is indeed a closed one, and as flotsam or jetsam on troubled waters, Chapter XII of the Law of Prize rides the waves, whereas its rival, heavy and water-logged, has gone under.

In the leading case of The Louis (2 Dodson 210), decided in 1817, some two hundred years after Selden’s book was written, Sir William Scott, later Lord Stowell and one of Selden’s most distinguished countrymen, said, in rejecting the claim of his country to the exercise of jurisdiction beyond a marine league from the British shore:

In closing the preface to the Mare Clausum, Selden used language, which the undersigned quotes, albeit in an inverse sense, as a fit ending to this subject:

“Other passages there are everywhere of the same kind. But I enlarge myself too much in a thing so manifest. Therefore I forbear to light a candle to the sun. Farewell reader.”

James Brown Scott,Director of the Division of International Law.

Washington, D. C.,

February 28, 1916.