Download or read book Commentary on the Law of Prize and Booty written by Hugo Grotius and published by Natural Law and Enlightenment. This book was released on 2006 with total page 670 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Commissioned in October 1604 by the United Dutch East India Company, Hugo Grotius's Commentary on the Law of Prize and Booty was intended to justify the Dutch capture in 1603 of a wealthy Portuguese merchantman, the Santa Catarina, in the Strait of Singapore. In a clever and intricate defense of international free trade, Grotius (1583-1645) introduced the notion of a man as a sovereign and free individual with a right to self-defense and, by extension, the right of a company of private merchants to establish a trade empire."--Jacket.