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International Law and Ancient Sources: Grotius and Selden

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Jonathan Ziskind
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Extract

During the Commercial Revolution, as European powers became deeply involved in Atlantic and Indian Ocean trade, there developed a lively debate about whether a country could claim and exercise legal sovereignty over the sea. The great Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius (1583–1645), in his work Mare Liberum (1609), argued against such notions. An English lawyer and polymath John Selden (1584–1654), espousing British interests, took the affirmative side of the debate in Mare Clausum (1936). The issues had been discussed long before Grotius and Selden had written their works, but the debate intensified as the competition both for worldwide markets and for access to offshore fishing banks became sharper.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 35 , Issue 4 , October 1973 , pp. 537 - 559
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1973

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References

1 Citations from the Mare Liberum are from the the text edited by Mogoffin, Ralph (New York, 1916)Google Scholar. Abbreviated ML. Citations from the Mare Clausum will be from Selden, John, Opera Omnia, Wilkins, David, ed. (London, 1726)Google Scholar, II, Part II, 1179–1414. Abbreviated MC. Unless otherwise noted all translations are my own. My wife, Martha Andes Ziskind, whose dissertation, John Selden: Humanist Jurist, first interested me in the Selden-Grotius controversy, read the manuscript. I also wish to thank those of my colleagues at the University of Notre Dame who secured me a grant to conduct this research. In memoriam Louis C. Ziskind.

2 Until 1864, the ML was regarded as an independent work, but in that year, a longer work by Grotius was discovered entitled De Iure Praedae Commentarius of which the ML is the twelfth chapter.

3 Although Grotius wished to respond to the MC, he never did, probably because he was in service to the Swedes who were claiming the Baltic as their own. See Lee, R. W., “Grotius—The Last Phase, 1635–45,” The Grotius Society, Transactions, XXXI (1945), 207Google Scholar.

4 For discussions of the subject in ancient, medieval and early modern times until the publication of Mare Liberum, see Crichton, G. H., “Grotius on the Freedom of the Sea,” Juridical Review, LIII (1941), 235–236Google Scholar;Pauw, F. De, Grotius and the Law of the Sea (“Publications du Centre de droit international et de sociologie appliquée au droit international,” I; Brussels, 1965), 7–13Google Scholar;Klee, H., Hugo Grotius und Johannes Selden (Bern, 1946), pp. 9–17Google Scholar;Ziskind, J. R., “The International Legal Status of the Sea of Antiquity,” appeared in Acta Orientalia, XXXV (1972)Google Scholar.

5 For the historical background and the circumstances attending the publication of these two works, see De Pauw, pp. 16–20; Knight, W. S. M., The Life and Works of Hugo Grotius (The Grotius Society Publications, No. 4; London, 1925), 79–83Google Scholar; and the Dictionary of National Biography, s.v. “Selden,” p. 1156.

6 MC, pp. 1227, 1273–1276.

7 MC, pp. 1250–1252.

8 ML, p. 106.

9 ML, p. 7.

10 Ibid. For Grotius' ideas on natural law generally, see Klee, pp. 33–38.

11 ML, p. 6.

12 For example, his strictures against the Venetian and Genoese maritime claims and his condemnation of those jurists who advance their claims as those who “exercise the authority of this sacred profession not for justice and law, but in order to gain the gratitude of the powerful.” ML, p. 48. See also ML, pp. 53, 54, 56, 58.

13 MC, pp. 1211–1213, 1272–1273.

14 MC, pp. 1192–1193.

15 Ibid. Also pp. 1272–1273, 1276. Selden's concept of natural law is more narrowly based and is specifically found in the Noachide laws which articulate several broad moral principles which all men were expected to follow. See Klee, pp. 54–56.

16 See MC, pp. 1238–1242, where he discusses the Genoese and Venetian claims. For further discussion on Selden's attitude toward history and historical method, see Hazeltine, H. D., “Selden as Legal Historian: A Comment in Criticism and Appreciation,” Festschrift Heinrich Brunner zum siebsigsten Geburtstag (Weimar, 1910), pp. 583–591Google Scholar.

17 ML, pp. 12f., 40f.

18 ML, p. 7.

19 Knight, p. 94.

20 Ibid., p. 95; De Pauw, p. 32, n. 43.

21 ML, pp. 52–58.

22 ML, p. 12, nn. 3, 4; p. 13, n. 1.

23 ML, p. 15, n. 2. Selden discusses the point of papal donation only incidentally, to show that the sea could be bounded and demarcated. See MC, p. 1258.

24 ML, pp. 45–46, 66.

25 Moyle, J. B., ed., Imperatoris Iustiniani Institutionum libri quattuor (Oxford, 1955), p. 210Google Scholar.

26 ML, pp. 18–21 (Chap. IV).

27 Ziskind, op. cit.; see the latter part of the work.

28 Ibid.; Lobingier, C. S., “The Maritime Law of Rome,” Juridical Review, XLVII (1955), 4–13Google Scholar.

29 Gormley, W. P., “The Development and Subsequent Influence of the Roman Legal Norm of ‘Freedom of the Seas,’ ” University of Detroit Law Review, XL (1963) 571–572Google Scholar.

30 Inst., II, 1, 1. II, 1, 5 refers primarily to the use of the shore but mentions that the sea is subject to the ius gentium. See ML, pp. 29, 30.

31 Dig., I, 8, 2; ML, pp. 29–30.

32 Dig., I, 8, 4.

33 Dig., XLVII, 10, 13, (7); ML, pp. 29, 30, 33, 35, 36, 39, 51–52, 74.

34 Dig., VIII, 4, 13.

35 ML, p. 28.

36 Dig., XLIII, 8, 2; ML, p. 44.

37 Dig., XLIII, 8, 3.

38 ML, pp. 29–32, 34.

39 Dig., XLIII, 8, 4; ML, pp. 29–30.

40 Dig., I, 8, 1; ML, pp. 29, 30.

41 Dig., XLI, 1, 50; ML, pp. 29, 30, 75.

42 ML, pp. 32–33.

43 ML, p. 48.

44 ML, p. 47.

45 Dig., I, 1, 5; ML, p. 61.

46 ML, p. 62. Here he cited Ulpian, , Dig., XIV, 1, 1Google Scholar (20).

47 Dig., XXXIX, 2, 26; ML, p. 69.

48 ML, pp. 72–76.

49 ML, p. 72.

50 ML, p. 72; Dig., XLIII, 14, 1; 12, 1, (4), (17).

51 ML, p. 75.

52 Dig., XLIII, 8, 2 (9); XLVII, 10, 24. This latter reference is actually applicable to preventing certain abuses in a slave sale, but the principle is clear.

53 Dig., XLVII, 10, 13 (7). This is Grotius' seventh reference to this dictum.

54 ML, p. 75.

55 ML, p. 30.

56 MC, pp. 1232–1233.

57 Dig., XLVII, 10, 13 (7).

58 Dig., XLIII, 8, 2 (8); 9, 1.

59 Selden avoids discussing the position of Marcianus who maintained without qualification that “the sea and hence the shores of the sea” are common to all by natural law (MC, p. 1233, n. b).

60 Dig., I, 8, 10.

61 MC, pp. 1263–1265.

62 De Iure Belli ac Pacis (1625), II, 13, 15, 2. See also ML, p. 35.

63 Dig., VIII, 4, 13.

64 Ibid.

65 Dig., XLVII, 10, 14; MC, p. 1236.

66 MC, p. 1236.

67 Dig., V, 19; MC, p. 1231.

68 See, e.g., ML, pp. 39–40.

69 MC, pp. 1252–1253.

70 MC, p. 1253.

71 Dig., XIV, 2, 9; MC, pp. 1267–1272.

72 Dig., 1, 4, 1; MC, p. 1268, n. f.

73 Ibid.

74 ML, p. 34.

75 C. Just., IX, 47, 25; C. Theo., IX, 40, 24; MC, p. 1251.

76 ML, p. 7.

77 Pliny, Vergil (four times), Seneca, Diodorus Siculus and Plutarch, plus two citations from the Corpus Iuris Civilis.

78 See above.

79 ML, p. 8.

80 Seneca, , Nat. Quaes., V, 18, 12Google Scholar; De Pauw, p. 23, n. 43; Knight, pp. 94–95.

81 ML, p. 9, n. 6.

82 Aen., VII, 229–230 in ML, p. 8 and MC, p. 1189 (denial of hospitality); Diodorus Siculus, XII, 39, 4, in ML, pp. 7–8 and MC, p. 1188 (also the subject — denial of trade — the Megarian Decree); Tacitus, , Hist. IV, 64 in ML, p. 10Google Scholar and MC, p. 1185, (denial of passage).

83 Bel Gal., I, 7–10.

84 ML, p. 12. See above.

85 ML, p. 14.

86 ML, p. 19.

87 ML, p. 23.

88 MC, pp. 1195–1196. Grotius cites Cicero, Horace, Avienus and Seneca. Selden cites Vergil, a different passage from Seneca but the same work, the Octavia, Tibullus, Justin, the same passage from Cicero (De Off. I, 7, 20: privata nulla natura) but at greater length, and Ovid.

89 Georgia I, 139–140; Metam. I, 135–140; ML, p. 26.

90 Octavia, 431–432; De Off., I, 21; ML, p. 27.

91 De Off., 1, 52; ML, p. 27.

92 Metam. VI, 349–351; ML, p. 28; also, MC, p. 1189.

93 MC, p. 1260.

94 MC, pp. 1189, 1261.

95 Rudens, Act 2, Sc. 4; MC, p. 1262.

96 ML, pp. 31, 37, 39, 40.

97 Plut., Cimon, 13Google Scholar, 4; Aris., Ael., Panath., 156Google Scholar; MC, pp. 1186, 1221, 1257.

98 Geog., I, 1, 7; MC, p. 1252.

99 Suasoria, 1; MC, p. 1253.

100 Pharsal., II, 571; MC, p. 1255.

101 Meteorologica, I, 13 (351a); MC, p. 1254.

102 ML, p. 32.

103 MC, pp. 1234–1235.

104 Pliny, , N.H., 7Google Scholar, 26; App., Mith., XII, 94; Plut., Pomp., 25; MC, pp. 1213, 1227.

105 Pol., I, 9 (1257a30); ML, p. 61.

106 ML, p. 62, n. 4.

107 Plato, , Sophista, 223dGoogle Scholar; Aris., Pol, I, 9; Cic. De Off., I, 150–151; ML, p. 63.

108 ML, pp. 72, 73.

109 De Off., I, 34, 35; pp. 72, 75.

110 IV, 6, 47–52; ML, p. 73.

111 MC, pp. 1211, 1212.

112 Tac., Hist., IV, 74; MC, p. 1185.

113 Aen., I, 232–233; MC, p. 1185.

114 IV, 9, 44; MC, p. 1185.

115 N.H., 26, 15; MC, p. 1185.

116 MC, p. 1184.

117 Ibid.

118 MC, p. 1261.

119 MC, p. 1223.

120 MC, p. 1213.

121 MC, p. 1214. Selden concedes that the word could, in some contexts, refer to commercial preeminence.

122 MC, pp. 1214–1222.

123 Her., III, 122; MC, p. 1220.

124 MC, pp. 1216–1219.

125 MC, pp. 1222–1226.

126 MC, pp. 1222–1223.

127 Geog., V, 2; De Orig. Rom., I, 27; MC, p. 1225.

128 MC, pp. 1225–1226.

129 MC, Bel. Gal., III, 8; MC, p. 1226.

130 Livy, XXXVIII, 38, 9; Polyb. 8, 23; MC, ibid.

131 Suet. Aug., 49; MC, p. 1227.

132 Pliny, , N.H., 7, 26Google Scholar; MC, ibid.

133 De Orig. Rom., I, 3, 3; MC, ibid.

134 ML, p. 5.

135 ML, p. 16.

136 Mat. 17:27; 20:26; John, 6:15; ML, p. 6.

137 Mat. 10:23; ML, p. 19.

138 Mat. 23: 15; ML, p. 20. The New Testament text uses the singular.

139 This use of multiple versions of the Bible is best illustrated in his attempt to understand the meaning of the Hebrew word yam in Dt. 23:22 which mentions the inheritance of the tribe of Naphtali. Selden prefers to translate the word to mean “sea,” but he concedes the possibility that it could mean “west.” He has support for the former rendition from the Vulgate and Septuagint and, on the testimony of the Targum, maintains that the sea referred to is the Sea of Tiberias or Galilee. MC, p. 1202.

140 MC. pp. 1195–1196.

141 Gen. 9:1–2; 10:25; MC, ibid.

142 Num. 34:3, 5–7; Josh. 15:2, 4, 9, 12 (referring to the boundaries of the tribe of Judah); Ps. 72:8; MC, pp. 1199–1200. See also Ps. 89:25; MC, p. 1202.

143 Gen. 10:19; Dt. 34:2; MC, p. 1202. The Masoretic Text of Gen. 10:19 uses only cities as territorial limits, and the Masoretic Text of Dt. 34:2 omits reference to the Brook of Egypt.

144 MC, p. 1201.

145 Ezek. 26:16; 27:9, 34; 28:2; Is. 23:4; MC, p. 1201.

146 I Esdras 4:2; II Esdras 7:3–4; MC, p. 1202.

147 MC, p. 1257.

148 MC, p. 1257. This translation is Selden's which I have translated from the Latin. The correct rendition remains problematical. See, Scott, R. B. Y., Proverbs. Ecclesiastcs (Anchor Bible: Garden City, 1965), XVII, 68Google Scholar.

149 See above.

150 MC, p. 1254. Selden said that he checked the Arabic and Syriac versions of that verse.

151 MC, p. 1250.

152 ML, pp. 9, 20. Although he alludes without citation or comment to the Midianite war in Jud. 6–8 and the Israelite Conquest of Canaan, this is the sole Old Testament passage that Grotius discusses at length.

153 Locutionum, IV (De Numeris); ML, p. 9.

154 De Nabuthe, III; ML, p. 32. Also noted by Selden, , MC, p. 1234Google Scholar.

155 Hexaëmeron, V, 10, 27; ML, pp. 33–34.

156 De Off. Ministrorum, I, 28; Dig., XLVII, 10, 13; ML, pp. 51–21.

157 Hexaëmeron, X, 4; Decr. Grat., p. 2. 23, 2. 3; In Funere Basili, 34; ML, p. 71.

158 De Civ. Dei, V, 1; IV; ML, pp. 74, 75.

159 Hexaëmeron, V, 10; MC, pp. 1189, 1258–1259.

160 Chron., p. 10; Josephus, , Ant. Iud., I, 3Google Scholar; MC, pp. 1196–1197, 1199.

161 Div. Inst., V, 5; MC, p. 1196.

162 De Falsa Rel., I, 11; MC, pp. 1211, 1212.

163 Gemar, Jer. Aboda Zara, III; MC, pp. 1189–1190.

164 Gemara, Bab.Gittin, 8aGoogle Scholar; repeated in Gemara Jer. Shebi'ith, III; MC, p. 1205.

165 MC, pp. 1197–1198.

166 Klee, pp. 62–63.

167 Fuit enim meum opus de mari libero Optimo scriptum in patriam animo. Sed aetate iuvenali. de Amaral, S. G., “Le ‘Mare Liberum’ et ses adversaires” in Hugo Grotius: Essays … Selected for … Tercentenary of His De Iure Belli ac Pacis, Lysen, A., ed. (Leyden, 1925), p. 66Google Scholar.