Roman Law in the State of Nature
The Classical Foundations of Hugo Grotius' Natural Law

This book offers a new interpretation of the foundations of Hugo Grotius' highly influential doctrine of natural law and natural rights.

Benjamin Straumann (Author)

9781107470163, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 28 November 2019

285 pages
15 x 23 x 1.5 cm, 0.43 kg

'Straumann's book is a magnificent achievement … it deserves a wide readership. The book, which will be an instant classic in Grotius studies, will naturally attract the interest of historians of political thought, legal historians and classicists. But I would also recommend this book especially to practitioners of contemporary Anglophone moral and political philosophy, who should be reminded why Grotius was, for centuries, regarded as the towering figure in the history of modern ethics.' Daniel Lee, History of Political Thought

Roman Law in the State of Nature offers a new interpretation of the foundations of Hugo Grotius' natural law theory. Surveying the significance of texts from classical antiquity, Benjamin Straumann argues that certain classical texts, namely Roman law and a specifically Ciceronian brand of Stoicism, were particularly influential for Grotius in the construction of his theory of natural law. The book asserts that Grotius, a humanist steeped in Roman law, had many reasons to employ Roman tradition and explains how Cicero's ethics and Roman law - secular and offering a doctrine of the freedom of the high seas - were ideally suited to provide the rules for Grotius' state of nature. This fascinating new study offers historians, classicists and political theorists a fresh account of the historical background of the development of natural rights, natural law and of international legal norms as they emerged in seventeenth-century early modern Europe.

Introduction
1. Natural law in historical context
2. A novel doctrine of the sources of law: nature and the classics
3. Proving natural law: the influence of classical rhetoric on Grotius' method
4. Social instinct or self-preservation?
5. Justice for the state of nature: from Aristotle to the Corpus Iuris
6. Grotius' concept of the state of nature
7. Natural rights: Roman remedies in the state of nature
8. Natural rights and just wars
9. Enforcing natural law: the right to punish
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Legal history [LAZ], History of ideas [JFCX], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA]