Prize and the Booty - Case Study
On the 25 February, 1603 Jacob van Heemskerck and his crew attacked the Santa Catarina, a merchant ship from Portugal which carried a very highly priced cargo of trade goods. The total price was more than three million guilders. This created discussion about the legitimacy of the attack on the Portuguese merchant ship. In order to justify Jacob van Heemskercks actions, Grotius’ literary works have to be taken into consideration as he addressed different laws regarding trade, the sea and property. His four rules and eight laws have to be analyzed in order to advocate the attack.
Grotius first rule is “What God has shown to be His Will, that is law.“ The will of god is not only conceived from the church and …show more content…
the aforementioned laws. “Individual citizens should not only refrain from injuring other citizens, but should furthermore protect them, both as a whole and as individuals“ is the seventh law and “Citizens should not only refrain from seizing one another’s possessions, […], but should furthermore contribute individually both that which is necessary to other individuals and that which is necessary to the whole. These laws are aimed at the common good of all individual, whereas some of the other laws directed at individuals instead of the whole …show more content…
Grotius said that physically seizing leads to use the and this could result in the ownership of a certain object. However the aforementioned laws of inoffensiveness and abstinence provide a limit to the first two laws; and the laws of justice about the good deeds that should be compensated or the bad deeds which should be punished. If it can be proven that the Portuguese ship has committed evil deeds against Captain Van Heemskerck’s ship, it could be shown that he ordered his crew to defend themselves and not acting in bad faith and therefore the Dutch would be the rightful owner of the booty.
Grotius separated the exclusive access claim from Portugal to the East Indies into three sections. The first one is the right of possession: Portugal can not claim right of possession considering the first discovery, because the territory of the Indies was in possession of the natives who are living there. Following this, the Portuguese are left with no legitimate argument for possession. He then turned to their arguments for exclusive navigation and
On the 25 February, 1603 Jacob van Heemskerck and his crew attacked the Santa Catarina, a merchant ship from Portugal which carried a very highly priced cargo of trade goods. The total price was more than three million guilders. This created discussion about the legitimacy of the attack on the Portuguese merchant ship. In order to justify Jacob van Heemskercks actions, Grotius’ literary works have to be taken into consideration as he addressed different laws regarding trade, the sea and property. His four rules and eight laws have to be analyzed in order to advocate the attack.
Grotius first rule is “What God has shown to be His Will, that is law.“ The will of god is not only conceived from the church and …show more content…
the aforementioned laws. “Individual citizens should not only refrain from injuring other citizens, but should furthermore protect them, both as a whole and as individuals“ is the seventh law and “Citizens should not only refrain from seizing one another’s possessions, […], but should furthermore contribute individually both that which is necessary to other individuals and that which is necessary to the whole. These laws are aimed at the common good of all individual, whereas some of the other laws directed at individuals instead of the whole …show more content…
Grotius said that physically seizing leads to use the and this could result in the ownership of a certain object. However the aforementioned laws of inoffensiveness and abstinence provide a limit to the first two laws; and the laws of justice about the good deeds that should be compensated or the bad deeds which should be punished. If it can be proven that the Portuguese ship has committed evil deeds against Captain Van Heemskerck’s ship, it could be shown that he ordered his crew to defend themselves and not acting in bad faith and therefore the Dutch would be the rightful owner of the booty.
Grotius separated the exclusive access claim from Portugal to the East Indies into three sections. The first one is the right of possession: Portugal can not claim right of possession considering the first discovery, because the territory of the Indies was in possession of the natives who are living there. Following this, the Portuguese are left with no legitimate argument for possession. He then turned to their arguments for exclusive navigation and