Three Moments in the History of the Ius Gentium (1500-1700)

At the foundation of international law lies the notion of ius gentium or right of peoples, an idea that fully came into its own with the discovery of America and the effort to resolve the moral issues posed by the Spanish presence. Once Vitoria broadened the Augustinian concept of an international community by proposing the use of reason as the only criterion for membership in that community, it ...