The Law of Nations: Or, Principles of the Law of Nature, Applied to the Conduct and Affairs of Nations and Sovereigns |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
absolute according advantage affairs alliance allowed ally ambassador authority bassador belongs BOOK bound cause CHAP Cicero citizens civil commerce common conduct consent consequence considered contracting parties contrary court custom declaration defend duty enemy enemy's engagements equally established favour foreign France give grant Grotius honour hostage hostilities human independent individuals injury instance intrusted justice king king of France law of nations law of nature laws of war liberty Livy mankind manner maxim means ment minister necessary necessity neral neutral neutral country obliged observed occasion odious particular perfect person possession postliminium present prince principles prisoners prisoners of war promise Puffendorf punishment question reason refuse reign religion render respect Romans rule safety society sove sovereign sovereignty spect sufficient take up arms territories things tion treaty of peace troops truce United Provinces unjust usucaption violation воок
Popular passages
Page 59 - Nations composed of men, and considered as so many free persons living together in a state of nature, are naturally equal, and inherit from nature the same obligations and rights. Power or weakness does not in this respect produce any difference. A dwarf is as much a man as a giant ; a small republic is no less a sovereign state than the most powerful kingdom.
Page 253 - ... within the jurisdiction of the court from which it issues. The garnishee is safe by paying under the judgment of the court; but the objection that the cause of action did not arise within the jurisdiction of the court, if properly taken, must prevail.
Page 343 - When a deed is worded in clear and precise terms, — when its meaning is evident, and leads to no absurd conclusion, — there can be no reason for refusing to admit the meaning which such deed naturally presents. To go elsewhere in search of conjectures, in order to restrict or extend it, is but an attempt to elude it. If this dangerous method be once admitted, there will be no deed which it will not render useless.
Page 353 - which would render a treaty null and inefficient cannot be admitted;" and again, "it ought to be interpreted in such a manner as that it may have its effect, and not prove vain and nugatory.
Page 445 - I stand with confidence upon all fair principles of reason — upon the distinct authority of Vattel — upon the Institutes of other great maritime countries, as well as those of our own country, when I venture to lay it down, that by the law of nations, as now understood, a deliberate and continued resistance to search, on the part of a neutral vessel to a lawful cruiser, is followed by the legal consequence of confiscation.
Page 224 - Things being now become property, there is no obtaining them without the owner's consent, nor are they usually to be had for nothing; but they may be bought, or exchanged for other things of equal value. Men are therefore under an obligation to carry on that commerce with each other, if they wish not to deviate from the views of nature; and this obligation extends also to whole nations or states.
Page 285 - The tranquillity of the people, the safety of states, the happiness of the human race, do not allow that the possessions, empire, and other rights of nations should remain uncertain, subject to dispute and ever ready to occasion bloody wars. Between nations, therefore, it becomes necessary to admit prescription founded on length of time as a valid and incontestable title.
Page 67 - They will form together a federal republic : the deliberations in common will offer no violence to the sovereignty of each member, though they may, in certain respects, put some restraint on the exercise of it, in virtue of voluntary engagements.
Page 426 - This is the theory of all governments, and the best writers on the law of nations concur in the doctrine, that when the sovereign of a state declares war against another sovereign, it implies that the whole nation declares war, and that all the subjects of the one are enemies to all the subjects of the other.
Page 379 - The Swiss have had the precaution in all their alliances among themselves, and even in those they have contracted with the neighboring powers, to agree beforehand on the manner in which their disputes were to be submitted to arbitrators, in case they could not adjust them in an amicable manner.