Jus Gentium in Alberico Gentili: A Call for Prudence and the Common Sense of Humanity

The question about the meaning to be assigned to the term jus gentium both in Roman law and in its medieval and modern doctrinal developments has been widely debated, particularly in relation to the search for the historical “origins” of international law. Not infrequentlythis question has been addressed — admittedly, in nominal more than in analytical terms — by asking how the transition from jus gentium to jus inter gentes unfolded, or whether jus gentium was originally dealt with only as a jus belli or also as a jus pacis. The common assumption is that, at the beginning of the modern age, Roman jus gentium was progressively transformed into jus inter gentes by the so-called “founders” of international law, and eventually evolvedi nto a law between States, from which the current expression “international law” was drawn. In addressing this question with regard to Alberico Gentili , this article proposes to investigate whether, after Gentili, jus gentium — or rather the scholarly debate on jus gentium — changed, and, if so, in which respect.