Hugo Grotius’s De Jure Belli ac Pacis (1625) exerts a vast influence on international law and politics. Yet Grotius, known widely as the father of international law, is difficult to interpret.

Among all good men one principle at any rate is established beyond controversy, that if the authorities issue any order that is contrary to the law of nature or to the commandments of God, the order ...

THE first characteristics which the book of Grotius revealed were faith and foresight. Great as it was, — the most beneficent among all volumes not claiming divine inspiration, — yet more wonderful ...

OF all tyrannies of unreason in the modern world, one holds a supremely evil preëminence. It covered the period from the middle of the sixteenth to the middle of the seventeenth century: throughout ...

We should keep in mind that a proposed course of action may in itself be lawful, but the actor contemplating it should weigh first all the circumstances. He might conclude that it is unlawful, that it ...

The ornate Tower of Belém, with its faded ivory parapets, still stands proudly above the Tagus River, a monument to a distant era. Built in 1502 to commemorate Vasco da Gama’s expedition to the East ...

As the nation marks its 50th anniversary, here’s one moment we should all reflect on. Beijing’s efforts to impose a new normal on the South China Sea are more Selden than Zheng He or Grotius.