De Jure Belli ac Pacis Libri Tres

The invitation to prepare an English translation of the De Jure Belli ac Pacis by Hugo Grotius was extended to Mr. Kelsey by Dr. Scott, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, in June 1918. At that time the opinion was quite general that the World War would probably last for two years longer ; and it was thought that if the translation could be made ready before the peace negotiations should begin, the publication would be particularly opportune. The invitation was accepted with the condition that the work might be divided, in order to facilitate progress. The preparation of the manuscript was well under way when the Armistice came, and during the subsequent peace negotiations the undertaking was allowed to lag. Then, too, near the close of 1919, Mr. Kelsey was obliged to go abroad on a scientific mission which involved an absence of two years from the United States. Hence the delay in publication, which has now become opportune by reason of the approaching tercentenary of the first publication of the De Jure Belli ac Pacis in 1625. The translation, however, was made from the text of the edition published in Amsterdam in 1646, because it embodied the last revision of the author. In making the final draft for the printer, the translators have consulted the other editions published in the lifetime of Grotius and have had the advantage of consulting also the new edition of the text by P. C. Molhuysen, which was published in Leyden in 1919. Of the translation it is necessary only to say that the aim has been to express the thought as Grotius might have expressed it if he had been writing in English rather than Latin. The previous translations into English, French, and German have been utilized ; the one that has been found most useful is that by P. Pradier-Fodéré, to which an acknowledgement of special obligation is due. In the division of the work, Mr. Kelsey is responsible for the translation to the end of Book I and for the final form of the remainder of the translation; Mr. Sanders made the first draft of the translation for Book II, chapters 1-20, and Book III, chapters 18-25; Mr. Boak made the first draft of the translation for Book II, chapters 21-6, and Book III, chapters 1-17. Mr. Reeves revised the entire manuscript with special reference to the choice of the legal terms and phrases which would most clearly express the concepts of Grotius for readers of English to-day. In his translation of technical words he made reference to other works of Grotius, particularly the De Jure Praedae and the Inleiding tot de Hollandsche Rechts-Geleertheyt, published in 1636. For iustum reference was made also to Voigt on jus naturale, aequurn et bonum und jus gentium der Romer, Band IV, Beilage 10. Part of the manuscript was read also by Professor H. E. Yntema.