Ius gentium (the law of nations) is a complex and fascinating legal concept.
Its convoluted history is marked by an inner ambiguity, the product of many centuries of semantic stratification.[484] In Ancient Rome - and for a long time afterwards - it was understood as a law common to all of humankind and is therefore inevitably pertinent to any discussion of law and empire.[485] The probÂlematic relationship between ius naturale (natural law) and ius gentium, moreÂover, was the object of in-depth analysis by medieval legal scholars and, in the early seventeenth century, ius gentium was turned into ius inter gentes (law among nations), thereby defining the domain of relations between polities.
This chapter offers an attempt to explore the semantic stratification of the concept and its transformations over time, and to assess its historical role in the framing of what - since Jeremy Bentham - we have called â€?international law'. This discussion begins with an outline of the history of ius gentium in RoÂman law. From here, it continues with a survey of the late-medieval elaboraÂtion on the concept. In the last section - following some brief references to early-modern scholarship on ius gentium, and particularly to the School of Salamanca - this chapter reveals how a thematic, rather than a conceptual, approach can be taken. The focus shifts to the contributions made (from the late sixteenth century onwards) by the literature on the ambassador to the recÂognition of ius gentium as a distinct legal field, distinguished from ius civile particularly by its exclusive application to external relations.Koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2020 | doi:10.ii63/9789004431249_009
Edward Cavanagh - 978-90-04-43124-9
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