Hugo Grotius (1583-1645), the Dutch jurist who specialized on the philosophy of natural law, lived in tempestuous times (Bull, Kingsbury and Roberts 1990): the relations between independent political powers had become steadily more chaotic with the breakdown of the restraints which the medieval Church had fitfully applied; and the rise of absolute monarchies recognizing no authority above or beyond themselves had increasingly made sheer force the arbiter in the dealing of states with each other (Riley 2012), especially the following influence of the Reformation. In this context, Grotius believed that the welfare of mankind required a comprehensive and systematic treatment of the rules governing the mutual relations among state (ibid). This
