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SUMMARY:Civitas and Regnum: Grotius’ account of the sovereign entity in 
 the De Iure Belli ac Pacis - Dr Emile V Simpson
DTSTART:20180523T161500Z
DTEND:20180523T173000Z
UID:TALK105016@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:44502
DESCRIPTION:**For a copy of the paper (available one week in advance)\, or
  to join the seminar mailing list\, please contact md718**\n\nThis paper s
 ets out a key distinction in Grotius’ De Iure Belli ac Pacis (The Rights
  of War and Peace\, 1625) that is often overlooked in the mainstream histo
 riography. This is between two forms of sovereign entity: the civitas (sta
 te) and regnum (patrimonial kingdom). The paper argues that these two form
 s of sovereign entity should not be understood as binary alternatives\, bu
 t constitutional building blocks that could combine to describe a wide ran
 ge of constitutional configurations in Grotius’ scheme of global legal o
 rder. For example\, the regnum provided Grotius with a model to account fo
 r the way in which civitates could hold imperial possessions. To present t
 his distinction\, the paper also delves into Grotius’ account of the sta
 te of nature – or virtual lack thereof – to make the case that Grotius
  does not present a strong boundary between the pre-civic and civic condit
 ion. In this way\, Grotius could account for diversity in the particular h
 istorical experience of each people\, rather than shoehorn the constitutio
 nal identity of all sovereign entities into restrictive theoretical models
 . This in turn gave his account of the sovereign entity real-world purchas
 e.\n\nABOUT THE SPEAKER : Dr Simpson is a Junior Fellow\, Harvard Universi
 ty Society of Fellows.\n\nABOUT THE SEMINAR : The seminar will proceed on 
 the basis that participants have read the paper in advance.\n\nThe Legal H
 istories beyond the State series is an initiative of the Lauterpacht Centr
 e for International Law\, the Centre for History and Economics\, and the C
 ambridge Centre for Political Thought. It brings together historians\, pol
 itical theorists and lawyers who are interested in the social\, economic a
 nd political dimensions of law in the early modern and modern periods. We 
 focus on the ways in which law and legal institutions order and organize s
 pace and people. This encompasses both imperial and international law\, an
 d domestic public and private law in its manifold influences on the nature
  and form of relations across borders. We are interested in legal actors a
 nd institutions\, both national and supranational\; doctrines and concepts
 \, like jurisdiction\; and also diverse forms of legal border-crossing\, i
 ncluding the migration of people\, ideas and objects across time and place
 . Embracing new trends in legal and historical research\, we pursue the ex
 change of legal ideas in formal and informal contexts\, and the creation\,
  appropriation and interpretation of law by non-traditional actors\, and i
 n unexpected places.\n\nSome sessions will be devoted to discussion of new
 \, published work in the field\, and others to the sharing of works-in-pro
 gress\, whether draft articles\, chapters or book prospectuses\, with a co
 re group of scholars from a variety of disciplines.\n\nAll are welcome.
LOCATION:Lauterpacht Centre for International Law\, 5 Cranmer Rd
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