Modern international law

The emergence of modern international law

The Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius who lived from 1583–1645 is widely regarded as the most important figure in international law, one of the first scholars to elucidate an international order consisting of a «society of states» called force or cannot be controlled by war not governed by but governed by actual laws, mutual consent, and customs. Grotius secularized the international law and converted it into a comprehensive system; the De Jure Belli ac Pacis (On the Law of War and Peace) written by him in 1625, created a system of principles of natural law that combine all the nations totally independent on the local custom or law. He also emphasized the independence of the high seas, which was not only relevant to the growing number of European states exploring and colonizing the world but still a cornerstone of international law today. At abogados de migracion en houston, one can get all information related to usa investor visa and immigration law firm houston.

Since the advanced study of international law is not going to happen until the early 19th century, the 16th century Vitoria, Gentili, and Grotius created the foundation and are famously considered as the “father of international law”.

Two nascent schools of international law got inspired by Grotius, the Naturalists, and the Positivists. The German jurist Samuel von Pfendorf (1632–94) was in the former camp, who emphasized the supremacy of the law of nature over the states. De iure naturae et gentium written by him in 1672, got an expansion on the theories of the Grotius and grounded the national law to reason and the secular world, and emphasized that it only controls the external acts of the states. Pfandorf challenged the Hobbesian notion that the state of nature was one of war and conflict, arguing that the natural state of the world is in fact peaceful but weak and precarious without the observance of the law of nations.

State’s action

Since a state’s action basically contains nothing except the sum of the individuals within that state, therefore it requires the state to apply a fundamental law of reason, which is the base of the natural law. He was one of the youngest scholars to extend international law beyond European Christian countries, advocating for its application and recognition among all peoples on the basis of shared humanity.