GENTILI, ALBERICO. - Italian jurist, b. at Sanginesio (Macerata) on 14 Jan. 1552, d. at London on 19 June 1608. Doctor of law at Perugia in 1572, he held the office of judge at Ascoli. Returning to his homeland, he practised as a jurist and compiled the statutes of the city. His father being suspected of Protestant leanings, he fled with him to Carniola (Austria) and thence made his way to Oxford (1582), where in 1578 he had obtained the chair of civil law, and was later appointed advocate to the King of Spain at the English Admiralty Court (1605).
He distinguished himself especially by numerous works on international law, by virtue of which, particularly the *De iure belli et pacis*, he is regarded as a precursor of Grotius in the independent and systematic treatment of this discipline.
Principal works: *De iuris interpretibus dialogi sex* (London 1582, etc., Turin 1937, ed. G. Astuti and S. Riccobono); *De legationibus libri tres* (London 1583, etc., New York 1924); *De iure belli et pacis libri tres* (London 1588-89, Oxford 1933); *Disputationum de nuptiis libri VII* (Hana 1601); *Disputationes tres de libris canonicis*, etc. (ibid. 1605); *Hispanicae advectionis libri duo* (ibid. 1613, etc., New York 1921).