Hugo Grotius, 1583-1645.

Hugo Grotius (Huigh De Groot) was a Dutch legal scholar, playwright and poet.  As a natural law philosopher, he is generally credited as the originator of "natural morality" and the "social contract" theory of the State.   His 1609 book promoted idea that seas should be free for the innocent use and mutual benefit of all -- an idea disputed subsequently disputed by some Mercantilists.  Grotius's 1625 treatise is acknowledged as the first in international law.     More famously, Grotius argued that "property" was only the outcome of social consent, and thus had nothing "inalienable" in it.  This conclusion was disputed by Pufendorf.

Major Works of Hugo Grotius

• De Jure praedae commentarius (Commentary on the Law of Prize and Bounty), 1604 (publ. 1868)
• Mare Liberum (Freedom of the Seas), 1609 (Ch. 19 of 1604), (French transl.)
• Déclaration en français de M. de Groot, expliquant les raisons de son arrivée en France, donnant copie d'une lettre, adressée par lui aux Etats généraux... le 30 mars 1621, c.1622.
• De Jure belli ac pacis (On the Law of War and Peace), 1625. (Latin edition, French transl., Vol. 1, Vol. 2)
• Excerpta ex tragoediis et comediis graecis tum quae existant, tum quae perierunt, emendata et latinis versibus reddita, 1626
• True Religion Explained, and Defended against the Archenemies Thereof in These Times, 1632. (French transl.)
• De Imperio summarum potestatum circa sacra, 1648 (French transl.)
• Annales et histoires des troubles du Pays-Bas, 1662
• Aenmerkinge op de Missive va Parnas, van den 22. January 1685, 1685

Resources on Hugo Grotius

• The life of the truly Eminent and Learned Hugo Grotius containing a Copious and Circumstantial history
  of the several important and Honourable negotiations in which he was employed, together with a Critical account of his works written originally written in French, by M. de Burigny, 1754.
• Institutes of Natural Law being the substance of a course of Lectures on Grotius de Jure Belli et
  Pacis read in S. Johns College Cambridge, by Thomas Rutherforth, 1754.
• The Life of Hugo Grotius : With brief minutes of the Civil, Ecclesiastical, and Literary History of the
  Netherlands by Charles Butler, 1826. 
• La Bibliographie politique du Sr Naudé. Contenant les livres et la méthode nécessaire à estudier la politique avec une lettre de monsieur Grotius, et une autre du sieur Hamiel sur le mesme subjet, by Gabriel Naudé, 1642 
• Vindicae Grotiani dogmatis de præscriptione inter gentes liberas contra illustrem scriptorem gallicum petrum puteanum quas by Henricus Franciscus Buchholtz, 1696
• Praelectiones academicae in Hugonis Grotii de iure belli et pacis Libros III. by Johann Gottlieb Heineck, 1744
• Recherches historiques sur les Municipalités, Pour servir à éclairer sur leurs droits, leur jurisdiction et leur organisation Suivies de l'Esprit de Grotius, ou du gouvernement Harmonique. Anonymous, 1789
• Laudatio Hugonis Grotii by Henrico Constantino Cras, 1796
• Disputatio juridica inauguralis qua Hugonis Grotii memoria vindicatur adversus inconstantiæ ac
  vitiositatis maculam, by Henri Gratama, 1820
• Disputatio juridica inauguralis Succinctam grotianae doctrinae by Janus Olpherus de Jong, 1827
• Die Vorläufer des Hugo Grotius auf dem Gebiete des Ius naturae et gentium sowier der Politik im Reformationszeitalter by Carl baron Kaltenborn von Stachau, 1848.
• Étude sur le droit de la guerre de Grotius, by  Abbé V. Hély, 1875.
• Le droit de la guerre et les précurseurs de Grotius, by Ernest Nys, 1882.
• Note sur la littérature du droit des gens avant la publication du Jus Belli ac Pacis de Grotius (1625) by Alphonse Rivier, 1883
• Les Origines de la diplomatie et le droit d'ambassade jusqu'à Grotius, by Ernest Nys,1884.
• Introduction au droit des gens. Recherches philosophiques, historiques et bibliographiques, by F. von Holtzendorff et A. P. O. Rivier, 1889
• Les Fondateurs du droit international : F. de Vitoria, A. Gentilis, F. Suarez, Grotius, Zouch, Pufendorf, Bynkershoekn Wolf, Wattel, de Martens, leurs oeuvres, leurs doctrines. Antoine Pillet, editor, 1904 
• "Grotius and the Socioeconomic Development of the United Provinces around 1600" by Peter Lowensteyn, 1985 
• "The Miracle of Holland: Hugo Grotius: Naturalist, Eclectic, or Theonomist?" by William Greene, Ph.D.
• "The Origin of Property: Ockham, Grotius, Pufendorf" by John Kilcullen 
• Grotius et le Droit Natural at Gallica
• Grotius page at McMaster
• Hugo Grotius at Oregon State
• Grotius entry at x-refer.
• Grotius entry at Encyclopedia.com
• Grotius links
• Hugo Grotius Page in German  
• Grotius College, Netherlands
•  Grotius page at Univ. Idaho