His Three Books Treating of the Rights of War & Peace. In the First is handled, Whether any War be Just. In the Second is shewed, The Causes of War, both Just and Uujust [sic]. In the Third is declared, What in War is Lawful; that is, Unpunishable. With the Annotations digested into the Body of every Chapter. Translated into English by William Evats, B.D.

First complete edition in English of Grotius's masterpiece, a foundational work of international law and a landmark in the development of just-war theory. Published as De jure belli ac pacis in 1625, during the Thirty Years' War, the work sought legal principles that would apply across political and religious boundaries. Grotius grounded these principles in natural law, understood as rules discoverable through reason and rooted in human nature, rather than dependent on religious revelation. "The purpose of the Law of Nations and of civil law is to protect and make possible the free use of these rights. What distinguishes the Grotian tradition is the conception that the whole of international relations, including the occasions for and conduct of war, become subject to the rule of law" (Boucher, p. 209). These arguments had a profound influence on John Locke and the leaders of the Glorious Revolution and on the American Founding Fathers. "From 1746 to 1776, North American colonists regarded Grotius' social contract theory as one of America's founding political ideas" (Barducci, p. 566). The only earlier translation into English, prepared by Clement Barksdale in 1654, substantially abridged the text. ESTC R8527; Goldsmiths' 2491; Kress 1557; Ter Meulen & Diermanse 630; Wing G2126. See Printing and the Mind of Man 125 (1625 edition). Mario Barducci, "Grotius and the Enlightenment", The Cambridge Companion to Hugo Grotius, 2021; David Boucher, Political Theories of International Relations: from Thucydides to the present, 1998. Folio (319 x 192 mm), pp. [2], xxi, [7], 220, 361-572, [32] (complete despite the pagination gap). Engraved vignette title page by Thomas Cross, title page printed in red and black. Contemporary calf, orange morocco label, red speckled edges. Contemporary price note (8 shillings) and signature ("JBrowne") to front free endpaper, early signature of Thomas Nash struck-through to binding support stub. Minor repair to spine ends, light toning and a faint tide mark at head, else a clean, crisp copy.…