Abstract

The present study provides a comprehensive overview of the main topics of the Iberian School of Peace : the affirmation of peace as characterization of life; the popular origin of civil power; the right of active resistance against tyranny; universality of the right of ownership based on the law of nations; the refusal of the universal lordship of the emperor; criticism of the tradition of theocracy; the refusal of war for reasons of religious diversity; the defence of every man and every people’s natural freedom; justification of the legitimacy of indigenous sovereignty and of man’s right of ownership of their property; the cosmopolitan right based on the natural right of communication; every people’s right to establish non-fraudulent commercial relations; the affirmation of an intrinsic principle of humans’ sociability, which extends itself into the affirmation of an intrinsic principle of states’ sociability, towards the construction of the universal community, based on a supranational jus gentium.