Despite its significant influence on international law, international relations, natural law and political thought in general, Grotius's Law of War and Peace has been virtually unavailable for many decades. Stephen Neff's edited and annotated version of the text rectifies this situation. Containing the substantive portion of the classic text, but shorn of extraneous material, this edited and annotated edition of one of the classic works of Western legal and political thought is intended for students and teachers in four primary areas: history of international law, history of political thought, history of international relations and history of philosophy.

Reprint of the sole edition of this translation. In this momentous work Grotius describes the situations in which war is a valid tool of law enforcement and outlines the principles of armed combat. Though based on Christian natural law, Grotius advanced the novel argument that his system would still be valid if it lacked a divine basis. In this regard he pointed to the future by moving international law in a secular direction. This edition was abridged by removing most of the quotations from "ancient historians, orators, philosophers, and poets," which are identified in footnotes. As Whewell states in the preface, they tended to "confuse the subject, obscure the reasoning, and weary the reader." By removing them he enhanced clarity and reduced the bulk of the work by "more than a half" (vi). Hugo Grotius [1583-1645], generally acknowledged as the founder of international law, was an influential Dutch jurist, philosopher and theologian. Originally published in 1625, De Jure Belli ac Pacis (On the Law of War and Peace, translated by Whewell as On the Rights of War and Peace) is widely considered to be the first modern treatise on international law. William Whewell [1794-1866] wrote on numerous subjects and is known for the breadth of his endeavors, and his influence on the philosophy of science. He was one of the founding members and an early president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, a fellow of the Royal Society, president of the Geological Society, and longtime Master of Trinity College, Cambridge.

"Often considered a secularizing force in the rise of the nation state, natural law was called upon in the defence of the early-modern confessional states. The fourteen chapters of this volume show how religious and legal thought around natural and biblical law interacted and combined in the new Christian states of Lutheranism, Calvinism and Catholicism. The volume addresses also questions of political legitimacy, civic and ecclesiastical authority, societal stability, conceptions of common good, liberalism's value pluralism (and its pretence), toleration and the lingering humanist project of determining "who are we", issues that were then important as they are now. Contributors are: Dominique Bauer, Thomas Behme, Hans Blom, Jiří Chotaš, Alberto Clerici, Stefanie Ertz, Arthur Eyffinger, Heikki Haara, Mads Langballe Jensen, Adriana Luna-Fabritius, Denis Ramelet, József Simon, and Markus M. Totzeck"--