''De iure belli ac pacis'' (English: ''On the Law of War and Peace'') is a 1625 book in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, written by

Hugo Grotius Hugo Grotius (; 10 April 1583 – 28 August 1645), also known as Huig de Groot () and Hugo de Groot (), was a Dutch humanist, diplomat, lawyer, theologian, jurist, poet and playwright. A teenage intellectual prodigy, he was born in Delft ...

and published in Paris, on the legal status of war. It is now regarded as a foundational work in

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

. The work takes up Alberico Gentili's ''De jure belli'' of

1598 __NOTOC__ Events January–June * February 21 – Boris Godunov seizes the throne of Russia, following the death of his brother-in-law, Tsar Feodor I; the ''Time of Troubles'' starts. * April 13 – Edict of Nantes (promulgated April 30 ...

, as demonstrated by Thomas Erskine Holland.

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Its content owed much to Spanish theologians of the previous century, particularly Francisco de Vitoria and Francisco Suarez, working in the Catholic tradition of

natural law Natural law ( la, ius naturale, ''lex naturalis'') is a system of law based on a close observation of human nature, and based on values intrinsic to human nature that can be deduced and applied independently of positive law (the express enacte ...

. Grotius began writing the work while in prison in the Netherlands. He completed it in 1623, at

Senlis Senlis () is a commune in the northern French department of Oise, Hautes de France. The monarchs of the early French dynasties lived in Senlis, attracted by the proximity of the Chantilly forest. It is known for its Gothic cathedral and other h ...

, in the company of Dirck Graswinckel. According to

Pieter Geyl Pieter Catharinus Arie Geyl (15 December 1887, Dordrecht – 31 December 1966, Utrecht) was a Dutch historian, well known for his studies in early modern Dutch history and in historiography. Background Geyl was born in Dordrecht and graduated ...

It is an attempt by a theologically and classically educated jurist to base upon law order and security in the community of states as well as in the national society in which he had grown up. In the rather naïve rationalism, the belief in reason as the lord of life, is revealed the spiritual son of
Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' wa ...
.

In particular, this work is remembered for the sentence:

''Et haec quidem quae iam diximus, locum aliquem haberent etiamsi daremus, quod sine summo scelere dari nequit, non esse Deum, aut non curari ab eo negotia humana.''
What we have been saying would have a degree of validity even if we should concede that which cannot be conceded without the utmost wickedness: that there is no God, or that the affairs of men are of no concern to Him.

Such a concept has been synthesized with the famous Latin phrase ''etsi Deus non daretur'',Beck, Richard (8 December 2010), Dietrich Bonhoeffer:
etsi deus non daretur
' . Retrieved 8 July 2013. which means "even when God were assumed not to exist" but is normally translated "as if God did not exist".

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*{{Commonscatinline
Online text (English text, abridged, PDF)Online Text (English text, unabridged, HTML and PDF)
1625 books International law Books by Hugo Grotius Law books Legal history of the Dutch Republic 1625 in law 17th-century Latin books

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