Abstract

Whereas later generations portrayed Hugo Grotius as a forerunner of modern theories of international law, the publication of Mare Liberum (1609) offered a grounded argument for free trade against the restrictions imposed by the Spanish and Portuguese colonial empires. But Grotius’s notion of free trade was far removed from the later ideal of Richard Cobden, being instead firmly anchored on the chartered mercantile company. As the diplomatic and economic relations between England and the Dutch Republic progressively deteriorated during the early decades of the seventeenth century, Grotius’s rendition of the Law of Nations came increasingly to be regarded as a rationalization of Dutch dominance over long-distance trade routes. English commentators, who wished to emulate Dutch success but feared aggression and subordination, had to fashion a different framework of international politics to sustain their vision of an emerging English maritime empire. Tracing the uses of Mare Liberum in the mercantile literature of early Stuart England, the chapter studies how this foundational work of modern international thought shaped the political economic discourse of English merchants, exploring how Grotius’s version of the Law of Nations was entangled in concrete disputes between rival imperial projects.