Property, Piracy and Punishment ─ Hugo Grotius on War and Booty in De Iure Praedae - Concepts and Contexts

A research project of the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences was wrapped up with a new online edition of the juvenile work by Grotius (1583-1645), a June 2005 conference, and this volume of its proceedings. The 16 papers explore what the De iure praedae reveals about the humanist theologian's early thought on the various forms of property transfer that, though forbidden during peacetime, were permitted and even sometimes encouraged during war, or other occasions of national rivalry. The topics include maritime intra-Asian trade and the Protuguese Estado da India, the patristic context of his early work, Godfriend Udelans' Spiritual Helm (1638), law and theology in his use of sources, the image of piracy in his legal writings, and the origin of the ruler's right to punish. The papers were originally published as volumes 26-28 (2005-2007) of Brill's journal Grotiana. Annotation c2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Hans W. Blom teaches political philosophy and political science at Erasmus University Rotterdam and Collegium Civitas Warsaw. He publishes widely on early-modern political thought and the history of social and political concepts. He is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Grotiana.