Fernando Vázquez de Menchaca (1512–1569) was a Spanish

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

. Fernando Vázquez de Menchaca was probably born in 1512 in

Valladolid Valladolid () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province o ...

. His family members included judges and administrators. He studied law at the universities of Vallodolid and Salamanca, graduating from the latter about 1548. Menchaca held various positions as a judge and bureaucrat, including at the court of

Philip II of Spain Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...

. Menchaca was a member of the Council of the Indies and the Order of Santiago. He died in 1569 in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

. He was a hidalgo. In his

treatise A treatise is a formal and systematic written discourse on some subject, generally longer and treating it in greater depth than an essay, and more concerned with investigating or exposing the principles of the subject and its conclusions."Treat ...

''Controversiarum illustrium aliarumque usu frequentium libri tres'' (''Three books of famous and other controversies frequently occurring in practice''), likely first published in Venice in 1564, Menchaca argued that political authority derives from the consent of the governed. Because people form societies by "natural inclination", according to Menchaca, political authority is an aspect 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 ...

. Menchaca held that persons have natural rights including

liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

and equality and endorsed a version of the

social contract In moral and political philosophy Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships betw ...

theory. In this respect, Menchaca thought that domestic society and international society were on a par: both were based on "pacts and treaties". Further, since people create society "for their own utility", Menchaca argued that the people had an inalienable power to control their rulers. Mencha is considered a member of the School of Salamanca. He published six treatises between 1559 and 1564. His thought influenced

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

Samuel von Pufendorf Samuel Freiherr von Pufendorf (8 January 1632 – 26 October 1694) was a German jurist, political philosopher, economist and historian. He was born Samuel Pufendorf and ennobled in 1694; he was made a baron by Charles XI of Sweden a few months b ...

. Scholar Salvador Rus Rufino identifies Menchaca as part of the tradition of Catholic humanism.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vázquez de Menchaca, Fernando 1512 births 1569 deaths People from Valladolid 16th-century Spanish judges