The Working Methods of Hugo Grotius: Which Sources Did He Use and How Did He Use Them in His Early Writings on Natural Law Theory?

Martine J. Van Ittersum

doi:10.3366/edinburgh/9781474408851.003.0008

The Working Methods of Hugo Grotius: Which Sources Did He Use and How Did He Use Them in His Early Writings on Natural Law Theory?

Martine J. Van Ittersum

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This essay chapter analyses the working methods of the Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius (1583-1645), particularly his use and referencing of ‘sources’ in his early works on natural law and natural rights. Like most early modern scholars, Grotius garnished his texts with second-hand quotations of authoritative writers (the Classics, St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, etc.) and his marginalia with second-hand references to authoritative texts. He often obtained these materials from sixteenth-century florilegia and reference works. A case in point is Grotius’ referencing of Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae in Ms. BPL 917 in Leiden University Library. When we compare underlined passages in Grotius’ own copy of the Summa Theologiae with his references to Aquinas in Ms. BPL 917, we discover that two Catholic theologians --Thomas Cajetan and Francisco de Vitoria-- served as his reader’s guides to the Summa Theologiae, and shaped his understanding of Aquinas in crucial respects.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Reassessing Legal Humanism and its Claims
Subtitle of host publication	Petere Fontes?
Editors	Paul J. du Plessis, John W. Cairns
Place of Publication	Edinburgh
Publisher	Edinburgh University Press
Chapter	7
Number of pages	33
ISBN (Print)	9781474408851
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781474408851.003.0008
Publication status	Published - 2016

Publication series

Name	Edinburgh Studies in Law
Publisher	Edinburgh University Press
Volume	15

Keywords

Hugo Grotius
working methods of early modern scholars
secondhand quotations
secondhand references
Thomas Aquinas
Francisco de Vitoria
Thomas Cajetan

Access to Document

10.3366/edinburgh/9781474408851.003.0008Licence: Other

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Van Ittersum, Martine
- History and Information Studies - Senior Lecturer (Teaching and Research)
Person: Academic

Cite this

Van Ittersum, M. J. (2016). The Working Methods of Hugo Grotius: Which Sources Did He Use and How Did He Use Them in His Early Writings on Natural Law Theory? In P. J. du Plessis, & J. W. Cairns (Eds.), Reassessing Legal Humanism and its Claims: Petere Fontes? (Edinburgh Studies in Law; Vol. 15). Edinburgh University Press. https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781474408851.003.0008

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Van Ittersum, MJ 2016, The Working Methods of Hugo Grotius: Which Sources Did He Use and How Did He Use Them in His Early Writings on Natural Law Theory? in PJ du Plessis & JW Cairns (eds), Reassessing Legal Humanism and its Claims: Petere Fontes? . Edinburgh Studies in Law, vol. 15, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781474408851.003.0008

The Working Methods of Hugo Grotius : Which Sources Did He Use and How Did He Use Them in His Early Writings on Natural Law Theory? / Van Ittersum, Martine J.

Reassessing Legal Humanism and its Claims: Petere Fontes? . ed. / Paul J. du Plessis; John W. Cairns. Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, 2016. (Edinburgh Studies in Law; Vol. 15).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review

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Van Ittersum MJ. The Working Methods of Hugo Grotius: Which Sources Did He Use and How Did He Use Them in His Early Writings on Natural Law Theory? In du Plessis PJ, Cairns JW, editors, Reassessing Legal Humanism and its Claims: Petere Fontes? . Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 2016. (Edinburgh Studies in Law). https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781474408851.003.0008