To the Uttermost Parts of the Earth: Legal Imagination and International Power 1300–1870
Cambridge University Press, 6/30/2021
EAN 9780521745345, ISBN10: 0521745349
Paperback, 1124 pages, 22.2 x 15.2 x 5.1 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English
To the Uttermost Parts of the Earth shows the vital role played by legal imagination in the formation of the international order during 1300–1870. It discusses how European statehood arose during early modernity as a locally specific combination of ideas about sovereign power and property rights, and how those ideas expanded to structure the formation of European empires and consolidate modern international relations. By connecting the development of legal thinking with the history of political thought and by showing the gradual rise of economic analysis into predominance, the author argues that legal ideas from different European legal systems - Spanish, French, English and German - have played a prominent role in the history of global power. This history has emerged in imaginative ways to combine public and private power, sovereignty and property. The book will appeal to readers crossing conventional limits between international law, international relations, history of political thought, jurisprudence and legal history.
Introduction
1. Legal Imagination in a Christian World – Ruling France, c. 1300
2. The Political Philosophy of jus gentium – the Expansion of Spain, 1524–1559
3. Italian Lessons – ius gentium and Reason of States
4. The Rule of Law – Grotius
5. Governing Sovereignty – Negotiating French 'Absolutism' in Europe, 1625–1715
6. Reason, Resolution, Restoration – European Public Law, 1715–1804
7. Colonies, Companies, Slaves – French dominium in the World, 1627–1804
8. The Law and Economics of State-Building – England, c. 1450–c. 1650
9. 'Giving Law to the World – England, c. 1635–c. 1830
10. Global Law – Ruling the British Empire
11. A Science of State-Machines – ius naturae et gentium as a German Discipline, 1500–1758
12. The End of Natural Law – German Freedom, 1734–1821
Epilogue.