Grotius Hugo -Paulus Merula - DE MARI LIBERO -DE MARIBUS - 1633

The Free Sea, with Paulus Merula’s De maribus, printed in Leiden by the Elzevirs in 1633: a volume of great interest for the history of navigation, commerce, and international law.
[8], 267, p ;24*

Coat covered in contemporary rigid parchment, inner pages fresh with no signs of gore or humidity, slight trimming at the bottom of the title page without loss of text.

The Free Sea asserts that the sea cannot be exclusively possessed by one nation and that navigation and commerce must be free.
The work arose in the context of Dutch commercial expansion and of conflicts with the Portuguese monopoly on Asian routes. A central episode was the capture, in 1603, of the Portuguese ship Santa Catarina. The text derived from Chapter XII of a broader treatise by Grotius, De iure praedae, which at that time remained wholly unpublished.

Its importance lies in providing one of the most influential formulations of the freedom of the seas, destined to shape the development of international law. The thesis sparked extensive debate, in which John Selden also participated with a contrary position.

Hugo Grotius (1583–1645) was a Dutch jurist, humanist, philosopher, and diplomat. He is regarded as one of the principal founders of modern international law: he sought to identify common principles capable of regulating relations among States, war, and the rights of peoples. His major work is De iure belli ac pacis, published in Paris in 1625.
Paulus Merula (1558–1607), also known as Paul van Merle, was a Dutch scholar, jurist, historian, and geographer. He taught history at the University of Leiden and became official historian of the Netherlands. His De maribus accompanies in this collection Grotius’s treatise, extending its interest for maritime studies.