Commentary on the Law of Prize and Booty

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, scholars discovered that Mare Liberum was just one chapter in a manuscript of 163 folios, written in justification of the capture of the Portuguese merchantman Santa Catarina in the Strait of Singapore in February 1603. Robert Fruin persuaded the scholar H. G. Hamaker to transcribe and publish it in 1868. The 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 the original text and new material.
Commentary on the Law of Prize and Booty, ed. and with an Introduction by Martine Julia van Ittersum (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2006).
Copyright:
The copyright to this edition, in both print and electronic forms, is held by Liberty Fund, Inc.
People:
- Author: Hugo Grotius
- Introduction: Martine Julia van Ittersum
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Table of Contents
- NATURAL LAW AND ENLIGHTENMENT CLASSICS
- CONTENTS
- INTRODUCTION
- NOTE ON THE TEXT
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- COMMENTARY ON THE LAW OF PRIZE AND BOOTY
- CONTENTS
- CHAPTER IEdition: 1950; Page: [2]: Introductory Remarks—Outline [of the Case]—Divisions [of the Discussion]—Method—Order
- CHAPTER II: Prolegomena, Including Nine Rules and Thirteen Laws1
- CHAPTER III
- Question I
- CHAPTER IV
- Question II
- CHAPTER V
- Question III. What seizures of prize or booty are just?
- Question IV. What wars are just?Edition: 1950; Page: [26]
- CHAPTER VI: Concerning the Efficient Cause of War
- Question V
- CHAPTER VII: Concerning the Subject-Matter of War for What Cause and in What Circumstances Is War Justly Waged?
- Question VI
- Corollary to Question VI. Can there be a war that is just for both parties?
- CHAPTER VIII: Concerning the Forms to Be Followed in Undertaking and Waging War
- Question VII
- CHAPTER IX: Concerning the Aims of War
- Question VIII
- CHAPTER X
- Question IX. By whom may prize or booty be acquired?
- CHAPTER XI1
- Part I.: A General Discussion, Which Deals with the Following Items:
- Part II.: A Discussion of Events in the East Indies, Which Deals with the Following Items:
- CHAPTER XII: Wherein It Is Shown That Even If the War Were a Private War, It Would Be Just, and the Prize Would Be Justly Acquired by the Dutch East India Company; and Wherein, Too, the Following Theses Are Presented:
- CHAPTER XIIIEdition: 1950; Page: [128]: Wherein It Is Shown That the War Is Just, and That the Prize in Question Was Justly Acquired by the Company, in the Public Cause of the Fatherland
- CHAPTER XIV
- Part I.: The Seizure of the Prize in Question Was Honourable
- Part II.: It Is Honourable to Retain Possession of the Prize in Question
- CHAPTER XV
- Part I.: The Seizure of the Prize in Question Was Beneficial
- Part II.: Retention of Possession of the Said Prize Is Beneficial
- Epilogue
- APPENDIX A: Table of Rules and Laws Compiled from Chapter II of the Commentary
- Rules
- Laws
- APPENDIXES TO THE LIBERTY FUND EDITION
- APPENDIX I: Documents Listed by Grotius at the End of the Manuscript
- I: Edict of the Estates General of the United Provinces April 2, 15991
- II: Verdict of the Amsterdam Admiralty Board September 9, 160422
- III: Decree of the Estates of Holland September 1, 160428
- IV: The Bishop of Malacca33 to the King of Spain and Portugal April 30, 160034
- V: The Council of Malacca to the Four Representatives of the Dutch Ships Who Accompanied the Portuguese Prisoners to an Island near Malacca March 9, 160342
- VI: The Governor of Malacca45 to Admiral Jacob van Heemskerck March 9, 160346
- VII: The Governor of Malacca to Admiral Jacob van Heemskerck March 26, 160349
- VIII: The Captain of the Santa Catarina to Admiral Jacob Heemskerck March 24, 160350
- APPENDIX II: Archival Documents Relating to De Jure Praedae Translated by Martine J. van Ittersum
- I: Nicolas de Montalegre to André Furtado de Mendonça,1 Capitão-Mór and General of the South Sea and His Conquests June 20, 16022
- II: Jacob van Heemskerck3 to the Directors of the United Amsterdam Company July 13, 16024
- III: Jacob van Heemskerck and His Council of Naval Officers Resolve to Attack Portuguese Shipping Indiscriminately December 4, 16026
- IV: Jacob van Heemskerck to the Directors of the United Amsterdam Company August 27, 16037
- V: Jan ten Grootenhuys13 to Hugo Grotius October 15, 160414
- VI: Jan ten Grootenhuys to Hugo Grotius October 20, 160417
- VII: Petition of the United Dutch East India Company Drafted by Hugo Grotius Submitted to the Estates General on March 4, 160618
- VIII: Hugo Grotius to G. M. Lingelsheim23 November 1, 1606 24
- IX: The Directors of the United Dutch East India Company to the Sultan of Tidore25 Drafted by Hugo Grotius Winter of 1606–726
- X: The Zeeland Directors of the United Dutch East India Company to Hugo Grotius November 4, 160829
- BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR INTRODUCTION AND NOTES
- Manuscript Sources
- Printed Sources
- Secondary Literature
- SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING