Title page from The Rights of War and Peace (2005 ed.) vol. 2 (Book II)

Part of: The Rights of War and Peace (2005 ed.) 3 vols The Rights of War and Peace (2005 ed.) vol. 2 (Book II)

Grotius’s Rights of War and Peace is a classic of modern public international law which lays the foundation for a universal code of law and which strongly defends the rights of individual agents - states as well as private persons - to use their power to secure themselves and their property.

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This edition is based upon that of the eighteenth-century French editor Jean Barbeyrac and also includes the Prolegomena to the first edition of Rights of War and Peace (1625); this document has never before been translated into English and adds new dimensions to the great work.

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Key Quotes

War & Peace

First therefore, the Dread (as we before observed) of our Neighbour’s encreasing Strength, is not a warrantable Ground for making War upon him. To justify taking up Arms in our own Defence, there ought to be a Necessity for so doing, which there is not, unless we are sure, with a moral Certainty,…