GROOT, HUGH of (GROTIUS). - Jurist, b. at Delft on 16 Apr. 1583, d. at Rostock on 28 Aug. 1645. He studied classical languages and literature at Leiden, and then, having gone to France with the Grand Pensionary Oldenbarneveldt on an embassy to Henry IV, he took his doctorate in law at Orléans (1598).
Admitted to the bar at The Hague, he there wrote the *De iure praedae commentarius* (published posthumously, The Hague 1868), of which he gave the public only an anonymous part, and the *Mare liberum* (Leiden 1609), against English claims to dominion over the seas. While continuing to cultivate historical, legal, and literary studies (he edited Marziano Capella [1599], Theocritus, Moschus, Bion, and Simmias [1604], Lucan [1614], and wrote a *Liber de antiquitate Reipublicae Batavicae* [Leiden 1610]), he entered political life. In 1607 he became Advocate-General of the provinces of Holland, Zeeland, and West Friesland; in 1613 he took part in an embassy to England, both to settle disputes relating to the Indian trade and to plead before James I the cause of the Remonstrants. Also in 1613 he became Pensionary of Rotterdam. In the political-religious struggles of the time he was initially favourable to state intervention in religious matters, even against synodal decisions, in the name of public interest, as he maintained in the *De imperio summarum potestatum circa sacra* (Paris 1614). A follower of Arminianism, he advocated moderation and tolerance in the name of a humanistic ideal of freedom that linked him to Erasmus and opposed him both to Lutheran justification by faith alone and to Calvinist predestination. He professed respect for dogma, subordinating reason to it, though not considering dogma contrary to reason.
The vindication of Christ’s redemptive function is the theme of his *Defensio de satisfactione Christi adversus Socinum* (Leiden 1617). His tolerant stance subsequently led him toward an ideal of religious universalism, of which the State was to be the instrument. The victory of the Contra-Remonstrants at the Synod of Dordrecht (1618), and the consequent condemnation of the Arminians, led to the execution of Oldenbarneveldt and to Grotius’s condemnation to life imprisonment (1619). He managed to escape adventurously
Grollier, Pierre-Henri - Portrait.
and, after two years with the help of his wife, took refuge in Paris, where he resumed his theoretical activity. He combated Pelagian doctrines in the *Disquisitio an Pelagiana sint ea dogmata quae nunc sub eo nomine traduntur* (Paris 1622); the *De veritate religionis Christianae* (Leiden 1627), the *Via ad pacem ecclesiasticam* (Paris 1642), and the *Votum pro pace ecclesiastica contra Rivetum* (Amsterdam 1642) reprise the theme dear to him of political accord founded on the commonality of Christian ideals, bringing him closer to Catholic positions. In the *Annotationes in libros Evangeliorum* (ibid. 1641), to the *Vetus Testamentum* (Paris 1644), and to the *Novum Testamentum* (posthumous, ibid. 1646–50), he resumed the goal of Erasmus: a scientific criticism of the Bible intended to restore true Christian doctrine. Nor did he neglect historical studies, publishing a *Dissertatio de origine gentium Americanarum* (Amsterdam 1642) and another *Dissertatio altera* on the same subject (Paris 1643). As early as 1634 he had been appointed ambassador of Sweden to Paris, but, having met with no success in this new diplomatic post, he resigned in 1645. Best known above all for the *De iure belli ac pacis* (ibid. 1625), he was hailed by this work as the father of modern natural law. Its aim is the foundation of a universally valid science of law, so as to guarantee a theoretically secure basis for the peaceful coexistence of nations. To this end Grotius distinguishes the state and law of nature from the state and civil law, *ius naturale* from *ius voluntarium*. The former arises from a natural need of the human spirit, the *appetitus societatis*, as Aristotle had already affirmed, and is therefore not empirically derivable from human acts and will, as the latter is. Founded only mediately on divine will, inasmuch as this is still the source of human nature, it is valid even “*etiamsi daremus... non esse Deum*” (Proleg., § 11) and is “*adeo immutabile ut ne a Deo quidem mutari queat*” (I, 1, § 10). The state of nature is therefore governed by this absolute natural law and is the condition of peace, freedom, and common ownership of goods. With the development of society through consensual pacts, there is a transition to the civil state. This arises from a free contract with the aim of harmonizing interests by regulating them with civil law, whose ultimate foundation, through the pact, is always natural law. The sovereignty of the State, arising from the contract, is therefore superior to individual wills. But this *dominium eminens* must be exercised in the common interest and to ensure the realization of natural law. In the international sphere, lacking a supreme authority, norms have no imperative character but are consensual, their foundation being natural justice.
All Grotius’s theological works were placed on the Index (*decr. 10 May 1757*).