Alberico Gentili Bust

Alberico Gentili asked how law could apply when rulers came into conflict and no common political superior could settle their dispute. His writings on war and diplomatic relations helped develop a field that later became known as international law. They drew on Roman law and historical examples as well as the problems of his own time.

Born in San Ginesio in 1552, Gentili left Italy amid religious conflict and established a career in England. He became Regius Professor of Civil Law at Oxford in 1587. Exile thus placed an Italian-trained jurist inside the institutions of another state.

The works gathered under the title De iure belli consider the grounds and conduct of war. They should be read against contemporary alliances and confessional disputes, rather than as an already complete version of modern humanitarian law. Legal argument could restrain power while also being used to justify a government’s policy.

International law developed through the work of many writers. Gentili contributed a body of cases and arguments that placed legal reasoning at the center of disputes between rulers.