The freedom of the seas : $b or, The right which belongs to the Dutch to take part in the East Indian tradeGrotius, Hugo
Philosophy
The freedom of the seas : $b or, The right which belongs to the Dutch to take part in the East Indian trade
Grotius, Hugo
Freedom of the seas; Law of the sea
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affirmative et negative procedit, ut docet Vasquius. Nec enim quod
libere feci facere cogor, nec quod non feci omittere.
Alioquin quid esset absurdius quam ex eo quod singuli non possumus
cum singulis semper contrahere, salvum nobis in posterum non esse
ius cum illis, si usus tulerit, contrahendi? Idem Vasquius et illud
rectissime, ne infinito quidem tempore effici, ut quid necessitate
potius, quam sponte factum videatur.
Probanda itaque Lusitanis foret coactio, quae tamen ipsa cum hac in
re iuri naturae sit contraria, et omni hominum generi noxia, ius
facere non potest.[166a] Deinde illa coactio durasse debuit per
tempus, cuius initii non exstet memoria; id vero tantum hinc abest,
ut ne centum quidem anni exierint, ex quo tota fere negotiatio Indica
penes Venetos fuit, per Alexandrinas traiectiones.[167a] Debuit etiam
talis esse coactio, cui restitum non sit. At restiterunt Galli et
Angli, aliique. Neque sufficit aliquos esse coactos, sed ut omnes
coacti sint requiritur, cum per unum non coactum servetur in causa
communi libertatis possessio. Arabes autem et Sinenses a saeculis
aliquot ad hunc usque diem perpetuo cum Indis negotiantur.
Nihil prodest ista usurpatio.
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This, as Vasquez points out, acts both affirmatively and negatively.
For I am not compelled to do what I have hitherto done of my own free
will, nor am I compelled to stop doing what I have never done.
What moreover could be more absurd than to deduce from the fact that
we as individuals are not able always to conclude a bargain with
other individuals, that there is not preserved to us for the future
the right of bargaining with them if opportunity shall have offered?
The same Vasquez has also most justly said that not even the lapse
of infinite time establishes a right which seems to have arisen from
necessity rather than choice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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