The Freedom of the Seas, Or, The Right which Belongs to the Dutch to Take Part in the East Indian Trade

Book excerpt: A classic treatise on international maritime law. Originally published: New York: Oxford University Press, 1916. xv, (xiv-xv, 79 pp. paged in duplicate (158 pp.)), 81-83 pp. (total 182 pp.) A translation of Grotius's Mare Liberum, with Latin and English on facing pages. This groundbreaking work was commissioned by the Dutch East India Company to dispute the monopoly on East Indian trade routes claimed by the Portuguese. It argues that the seas are international territory open to all nations, thus rejecting the idea that any area of the seas could belong to a country. An instant classic, it received a great deal of attention when it was published in 1609. Perhaps the most important reply is John Selden's Mare Clausum (1635), which defends British claims to sovereignty over the coastal waters of the British Isles.