scholarly journals Offering hospitality to strangers: Hugo Grotius’s draft regulations for the Jews

2017 ◽  
Vol 85 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 391-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc de Wilde
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Legal Regulations ◽  
Hugo Grotius ◽  
Spanish Colonization ◽  
Natural Foundation ◽  
The Right ◽  
Religious Reasons ◽  
Francisco De Vitoria ◽  
Private Worship

In 1615, the States of Holland and West-Vriesland commissioned Hugo Grotius to draft a set of legal regulations for the Jews in their province. This article analyzes Grotius’s draft, entitled Remonstrance. It examines how Grotius understood and justified the rights of Jews and to what extent his approach was novel. More particularly, it shows how Grotius developed the concept of a natural duty to offer hospitality to strangers to advocate admission and toleration of Jews. He borrowed this concept from the sixteenth-century jurist and theologian Francisco de Vitoria, who had used it to justify the Spanish colonization of the Americas. While Vitoria had suggested that the Indians had violated their natural duty to offer hospitality to strangers by refusing to admit the Spanish merchants to their lands, Grotius argued that the provinces of Holland and West-Vriesland had a natural duty to offer hospitality to the Jews who had been expelled from their communities for religious reasons. Unlike Vitoria, Grotius recognized the natural duty to offer hospitality to strangers as the natural foundation of the right to asylum, which applied irrespective of religion. This enabled him to argue that these Jews, as religious exiles, had to be admitted to the provinces of Holland and West-Vriesland, and granted particular rights, including the freedom of (private) worship.


Appropriating Nature: Commerce, Property, and the Commodification of Nature in the Law of Nations

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 641-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
ILEANA PORRAS
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Urgent Task ◽  
Hugo Grotius ◽  
Law Of Nations ◽  
The Law ◽  
Commodification Of Nature ◽  
The Right ◽  
Francisco De Vitoria

AbstractThis article explores the structural link between international law's long-standing doctrinal commitment to commerce and its inability to act decisively on behalf of the environment. One of the fundamental rights the early authors of jus gentium discovered was the right to engage in commerce. Francisco de Vitoria, Alberico Gentili, and Hugo Grotius each drew on and applied a providentialist theory of commerce. The doctrine held that Providence distributed scarcity and plenty across the earth so that peoples could not be self-sufficient, but would need to go in search of one another in order to acquire what they lacked. Commerce imagined in its pure form of reciprocal, mutually beneficial exchange would be the means to bring separated mankind to friendship. The embrace of the providentialist doctrine by these early exponents of the law of nations, carried forward by Emer de Vattel, set the stage for international law's longstanding commitment to international commerce, viewed (despite all the distortions) as a virtuous activity that tends to the common good. The doctrine's additional legacy was the installation of a view of nature as commodity. The providentialist doctrine of commerce, adopted by the early authors of international law, remains embedded in the structure of international law and cannot easily be dislodged. Until this doctrine is dislodged, however, international law will continue to be hobbled in its ability to address the urgent task of protecting the natural environment.

Lending to the Borrower from Hell

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauricio Drelichman ◽  
Hans-Joachim Voth
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Risk Sharing ◽  
The United States ◽  
Philip Ii ◽  
Loan Contracts ◽  
The Right ◽  
Intelligent Model ◽  
New Evidence

Why do lenders time and again loan money to sovereign borrowers who promptly go bankrupt? When can this type of lending work? As the United States and many European nations struggle with mountains of debt, historical precedents can offer valuable insights. This book looks at one famous case—the debts and defaults of Philip II of Spain. Ruling over one of the largest and most powerful empires in history, King Philip defaulted four times. Yet he never lost access to capital markets and could borrow again within a year or two of each default. Exploring the shrewd reasoning of the lenders who continued to offer money, the book analyzes the lessons from this historical example. Using detailed new evidence collected from sixteenth-century archives, the book examines the incentives and returns of lenders. It provides powerful evidence that in the right situations, lenders not only survive despite defaults—they thrive. It also demonstrates that debt markets cope well, despite massive fluctuations in expenditure and revenue, when lending functions like insurance. The book unearths unique sixteenth-century loan contracts that offered highly effective risk sharing between the king and his lenders, with payment obligations reduced in bad times. A fascinating story of finance and empire, this book offers an intelligent model for keeping economies safe in times of sovereign debt crises and defaults.

The Doctrine of the Providential Function of Commerce in International Law

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ileana M. Porras
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
International Exchange ◽  
Religious Doctrine ◽  
Hugo Grotius ◽  
Religious Sensibility ◽  
Commercial Exchange ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Francisco De Vitoria ◽  
Internal Effect

This chapter explores the doctrine of the providential function of commerce in the work of Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1492–1546), Alberico Gentili (1552–1608), and Hugo Grotius (1583–1645). In this chapter, I argue that the doctrine’s persuasive power lies in the interplay between two factors. First is the fact that while the doctrine is not in origin a religious doctrine, its elements and its narrative logic carried an unmistakable religious sensibility that became indissolubly associated with international trade. But the doctrine’s true efficacy lies in a more subtle internal effect. In essence, the doctrine, which holds at its core an act of exchange among distant peoples, allowed its adherents to idealize international trade by blurring the distinction between the act of commercial exchange and that of gift-exchange. In this manner, international exchange came to be portrayed as an act of friendship and community recognition, rather than a commercial act between strangers.

scholarly journals Francisco de Vitoria on the Right to Free Trade and Justice

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Alejo José G. Sison ◽  
Dulce M. Redín
Keyword(s):  
Business Ethics ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Free Markets ◽  
Law Of Peoples ◽  
Private Initiative ◽  
The Right ◽  
Ius Gentium ◽  
Francisco De Vitoria

In 1538–39 Francisco de Vitoria delivered two relections: De Indis and De iure belli. This article distills from these writings the topic of free trade as a “human right” in accordance with ius gentium or the “law of peoples.” The right to free trade is rooted in a more fundamental right to communication and association. The rights to travel, to dwell, and to migrate precede the right to trade, which is also closely connected to the rights to preach, to protect converts, and to constitute Christian princes. This has significant repercussions on the field of business ethics: the right to free trade is ultimately founded directly on natural law and indirectly on divine law; trade is not independent of ethics; and trade is presented as an opportunity to develop the virtues of justice and friendship, among other repercussions. Vitoria is portrayed as a defender of private initiative and free markets.

Ustawowe i umowne prawo pierwokupu przysługujące dzierżawcy nieruchomości rolnych – wybrane problemy prawne

2021 ◽  
pp. 375-394
Author(s):  
Aneta Suchoń
Keyword(s):  
Real Estate ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
Business Activity ◽  
Legal Regulations ◽  
Legal Problems ◽  
Agricultural Support ◽  
The Right ◽  
In The Beginning

The article aimed to determine whether the legal regulations in the field of the statutory and contractual pre-emption right of a tenant of agricultural real estate provide adequate protection to dependent owners in terms of the possibility of acquiring such land and conducting business activity on it. Secondly, the paper indicated legal problems related to statutory and contractual pre-emption right of a tenant of agricultural real estate and suggested how those problems could be handled. In the beginning, the considerations focused on the statutory pre-emption right for agricultural real estate. It referred to a subjective and objective scope of the right in question, and an attempt was made to determine whether the leased land can be sold to a third party due to the obligation to run a farm in person (only the sale contract allows for exercising the pre-emptive right). Failure to perform the indicated obligations might result in the case being referred to the court by the National Center for Agricultural Support. The second part of the article discussed the contractual pre-emption right for agricultural real estate. The author pointed out the possible concurrence of the statutory pre-emption right of the National Support Centre for Agriculture and the contractual pre-emption right of the lessee. The paper also referred to the problems related to implementing this right due to the requirements that the buyer must meet. In summary, the author, among other things, pointed out the fact that the importance of the statutory pre-emption right of the tenant of agricultural real estate had been diminishing over the years. The position of the lessee of agricultural land in terms of purchasing agricultural land is weakening. Currently, in practice, tenants may rarely use the pre-emption right. The author proposed the introduction of a provision to the Act on Shaping the Agricultural System on an additional consent of the National Support Centre for Agriculture for the sale of real estate under a lease.

scholarly journals Selected legal problems of EEG biofeedback therapy under the Polish law

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-28
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Nowak-Gruca
Keyword(s):  
Adverse Effects ◽  
Eeg Biofeedback ◽  
Legal Regulations ◽  
Biofeedback Therapy ◽  
Legal Problems ◽  
Neuronal Signal ◽  
Polish Law ◽  
The Right ◽  
Training Protocol ◽  
Selection Of

The use of EEG biofeedback for therapeutic or healing purposes has its justification in modern research and recently one can notice the increasing popularity of this method. Possible threats which may be associated with improper training and EEG biofeedback therapy may result from error in the diagnosis or incorrect selection of the training protocol. The effectiveness of therapy depends largely on the efforts of the patient himself, however, the range of waves will be amplified or suppressed by diagnosticians and therapists. If during an EEG biofeedback, the correct neuronal signal is amplified or suppressed, this can have adverse effects. In Poland, there are no legal regulations regarding the acquisition of qualifications for conducting neurotherapy. Likewise, there are no indications as to which institutions have the right to assign appropriate powers to use this type of apparatus. The lack of legal regulations means that now everyone can practice neurotherapy. The article presents selected legal problems related to conducting EEG biofeedback therapy under law, especially under Polish regulations, including the problem of the responsibility of the therapist or trainer.

Travelling the borderline

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annabel S. Brett
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Poor ◽  
School Of Salamanca ◽  
The Law ◽  
Francisco De Vitoria

This chapter looks at Francisco de Vitoria and his Dominican colleagues at the Spanish School of Salamanca in the middle of the sixteenth century. They are famous for their reconstitution and redeployment of Thomas Aquinas's theory of natural law to address the new problems of the sixteenth century, problems that beset Spain along with the rest of Europe: the power of the crown both within its own commonwealth and in relation to other commonwealths, and these powers both within Europe and overseas. For the School's most celebrated member, Francisco de Vitoria, natural law is the law of reason by which all human beings are naturally governed—the law of humanity as such—and, for him as for Aquinas, it ultimately determines the legitimacy of any subsequent human institutions and laws. The chapter also considers Domingo de Soto's The deliberation in the cause of the poor, which was published in 1545.

Contesting Modes of Colonialism

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John A. Peterson
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Forest Products ◽  
Island Southeast Asia ◽  
Indonesian Archipelago ◽  
Cultural Effects ◽  
Spanish Colonization ◽  
Trading Network

The Spanish entrance to Island Southeast Asia in the sixteenth century had profoundimpacts on native peoples and terrain, but followed a millennia of intrusion into the region by Indian (Hindu), Buddhist, Chinese, Muslim, and native traders who established entrepôts in the Indonesian Archipelago from Malaka to Java to the Moluccas Islands. This trading network extended from Venice to Guangzhou. The southern Philippines lay at the edge, but participated in the trade of cloves, nutmeg, pepper, and other spices and forest products, first through Majapahit and later through Chinese traders. A consulary visit to China from Butuan was recorded in the eleventh century in the Chinese Song Shih, and a Cham trade mission was reported in 1001. Nine plank-hulled boats dating from the eleventh century were found buried in flood deposits in the Agusan del Sur River in Butuan, Mindanao, and, along with Song Dynasty ceramic artifacts, demonstrate the trade’s global reach . A century before Spanish colonization, Muslim pilots and traders initiated the spread of Islam. This has made an imprint on the region. Islamic conversion contrasted with Christian colonial patterns of subjugation and led to persistent boundaries and enduring, localized, and cultural effects that continue to shape ethnic and political divisions.

The Place of the Niqab in the Courtroom

ICL Journal ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vrinda Narain
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Minority Rights ◽  
Fair Trial ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Reasonable Accommodation ◽  
Critical Multiculturalism ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
The Right ◽  
Religious Reasons

AbstractThis paper analyzes the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in R v NS, 2012 SCC 72 where the Court considered if a witness who wears a niqab for religious reasons can be required to remove it while testifying. The Court identified the two Charter rights engaged: the witness’ freedom of religion and the accused’s fair trial rights, including the right to make full answer and defense. This paper focuses on those aspects of the Supreme Court’s decision that relate to religious freedom, multiculturalism and reasonable accommodation. Analyzing the Court’s reasoning through the lens of critical multiculturalism, I consider the potential of the reasonable accommodation framework to forward minority rights. I suggest that had the Supreme Court applied an intersectional framework to adjudicating NS’s claim, it could have crafted a more contextual response based on her location along multiple axes of discrimination: gender, religion and racialised minority. This paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of mediating individual and group tensions, to move towards a more inclusive notion of citizenship than can foster a commitment to a shared multicultural future.

scholarly journals EMPIRE AND THE RIGHT TO PREACH THE GOSPEL IN THE SCHOOL OF SALAMANCA, 1535–1560

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-55
Author(s):  
DANIEL S. ALLEMANN
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
New World ◽  
Natural Rights ◽  
Spanish Conquest ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Colonial Studies ◽  
School Of Salamanca ◽  
The Right ◽  
The University

AbstractThe sixteenth-century theologians of the School of Salamanca are well known for their sophisticated reflections on the Spanish conquest of the New World. But the nature of their responses seems far from clear and is subject to historiographical debate. Recent studies from the discipline of intellectual history suggest that the Salmantine theologians challenged the legitimacy of Spanish claims to the Americas. Scholars associated with the field of post-colonial studies, on the other hand, forcefully stress their entanglement in Spain's imperial venture overseas. This article, however, argues that these seemingly irreconcilable approaches are not in fact mutually exclusive. It shifts our attention to the sorely neglected ius praedicandi, the right to preach the gospel, which served to translate the Spanish theologians’ deeply rooted belief in the hegemonic truth of the Christian faith into a discourse of otherwise ‘secular’ natural rights. In adopting this novel lens, the article makes a case for assessing the language of the university theologians in its own terms while simultaneously exposing the support of Salamanca for Spain's imperial venture.

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