Table Of ContentPublications of the
Endowment
Carnegie for International Peace
Division of International Law
Washington
THE
OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
CLASSICS
EDITED BY
James Brown Scott
Member ofthe Institute ofInternational Law
President ofthe American Institute ofInternational Law
HISPANICAE ADVOCATIONIS
DVO
LIBRI
By Alberico Gentili
VOL. L A Photographic Reproduction of the Edition of 1661, with an
Introduction by Frank Frost Abbott, and a List of Errata.
Vol. II. A Translation of the Text, by Frank Frost Abbott, with an
Index of Authors prepared by Arthur Williams.
This volumewith Vol.JIconstitutes
No. 9 of "The Classics of Interna-
tional Law." A list of the numbers
already publishedis given at theend
of this volume.
PREFACE
The republication of the classic works connected with the
history and development of international law was undertaken
by the Carnegie Institution of Washington in 1906, at the sug-
gestion of the undersigned, then Solicitor for the Department
of State, under whose supervision as General Editor the series
has since been published. On January i, 1917, the project
was transferred to the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace and the publication of the series is being continued by the
Endowment's Division of International Law.
The present volume, Gentili's Hispanica Advocatio, is edited
with an Introduction by the distinguished classicist, Professor
Frank Frost Abbott, who has also made the English translation
of the text of Gentili's treatise.
The reasons for including Gentili's treatise are sufficiently
set forth byProfessor Abbott in his introduction. The original
text, issued in 1613 by the brother of the author, and five years
after his death, is exceedingly hard to get, for, although search
was made, no copy was to be had in London, Paris or Leipzig.
The photographic reproductionmade from a copy of the second
edition, appearing in 1661, in the possession of the Library of
Congress, places the work within the hands of any and all coun-
and Professor Abbott's faithful translation of a text which
tries,
abounds in difficulties and which has not hitherto been translated
into English makes its mastery an easy matter to the English-
speaking world.
One reason for republishing the classics of International
Law is the difficulty of procuring the texts in convenient form
for scientific study; the libraries in the United States have been
searched with the result that few of the earlier works were
to be found. Another reason is that some of the works selected
for republication have never been translated into English. The
American publicist is therefore at a disadvantage in consult-
ing works of admitted authority, and when found they are, as
it were, sealed books to all but trained Latinists. The specialist
is thus forced to rely upon summary statements and references
to them to be found in treatises on International Law, or is
driven to examine them in European libraries, often a difficult
task, while the general reader is practically barred from the
stores of knowledge locked up in the earlier works on the Law
of Nations. The same difficulty exists in Latin America, Japan,
and in a lesser degree in many European countries.
ta Preface
Eminent publicists, European and American, who have
been consulted as to the usefulness of the plan to republish
the Classics, have indorsed the project and have pledged their
personal cooperation. The works to be included in the series
have not only been approved but suggested by them, so that
the undertaking is international in scope, in selection, and in
execution.
The underlying principle of selection has been to reissue
those works which can be said to have contributed either to the
origin or to the growth of International Law and the term
classic has been used in the broad rather than in the narrow
sePxSe, so that no work will be omitted which can be said to
have contributed to the origin or growth of the Law of Na-
tions. The masterpieces of Grotius will naturally be the
central point in the series, but the works of his leading prede-
cessors and successors will likewise be included. The text of
each author will be reproduced photographically, so as to
lay the source before the reader without the mistakes which
creep into a newly printed text. In the case of the early
authors the photographed text will be accompanied by a revised
text whenever that course shall seem desirable. An Introduc-
tion will be prefixed to each work, giving the necessary bio-
graphical details and stating the importance of the text and its
place in International Law; tables of errata in the original will
be added, and notes deemed necessary to clear up doubts and
ambiguities or to correct mistakes in the text will be supplied.
Variations in successive editions of the text published in the
author's lifetime will be noted, but little or nothing in the
nature of historical commentary will be furnished.
Each work will be accompanied by an English version made
expressly for the series by a competent translator.
It is hoped that the series will enable specialists as well as
general readers to trace International Law from its faint and
unconscious beginnings to its present ample proportions and
to forecast with some degree of certainty its future develop-
ment into that law which Mirabeau tells us will one day rule
the world.
Brown
James Scott,
General Editor.
Washington, March J, ig20.
