Daniel Lee
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780198745167
- eISBN:
- 9780191806094
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198745167.003.0005
- Subject:
- Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law, Human Rights and Immigration
The chapter examines the Huguenot theory of popular sovereignty in two of the major Monarchomach tracts of the 1570s: François Hotman’s Francogallia and Philippe Du Plessis-Mornay’s Vindiciae Contra ...
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The chapter examines the Huguenot theory of popular sovereignty in two of the major Monarchomach tracts of the 1570s: François Hotman’s Francogallia and Philippe Du Plessis-Mornay’s Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos. As I show, these theories were designed specifically to combat humanist theories of princely authority, by locating the origin of sovereign authority in the civil body of the people at large. I focus specifically on the Monarchomachs’ strategic use of Roman private law to underline how, despite rejecting the legitimacy of princely rule, they nevertheless accept the humanist analysis that sovereignty is fundamentally a form of proprietary right, or dominium. This civilian language of dominium enables the Monarchomach theorists not only to justify popular resistance as a kind of legal action, such as a vindicatio, but also to construct one of the first modern examples of a theory of constituent power.Less
The chapter examines the Huguenot theory of popular sovereignty in two of the major Monarchomach tracts of the 1570s: François Hotman’s Francogallia and Philippe Du Plessis-Mornay’s Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos. As I show, these theories were designed specifically to combat humanist theories of princely authority, by locating the origin of sovereign authority in the civil body of the people at large. I focus specifically on the Monarchomachs’ strategic use of Roman private law to underline how, despite rejecting the legitimacy of princely rule, they nevertheless accept the humanist analysis that sovereignty is fundamentally a form of proprietary right, or dominium. This civilian language of dominium enables the Monarchomach theorists not only to justify popular resistance as a kind of legal action, such as a vindicatio, but also to construct one of the first modern examples of a theory of constituent power.
Sarah Mortimer
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198805878
- eISBN:
- 9780191843778
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198805878.003.0002
- Subject:
- Law, Public International Law, Legal History
During the Reformation, new interpretations of Christianity were developed—with important consequences for international relations. Taking the thought of Thomas Aquinas as their starting point, ...
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During the Reformation, new interpretations of Christianity were developed—with important consequences for international relations. Taking the thought of Thomas Aquinas as their starting point, Catholic scholars like Francisco de Vitoria argued for a natural law for all but they insisted that human beings were also obliged by Christian duties and commitments. These duties could only be fulfilled within the Catholic Church. Protestants rejected these claims and argued instead for one single set of ethical obligations, which were the duties of natural law. For them, natural law included both secular and religious principles, and it applied across national and political boundaries. The radical effects of this concept can be seen in the anonymously written Vindiciae, Contra Tyrannos. This chapter considers arguments on both sides of the confessional divide before discussing the Dutch scholar Hugo Grotius and his attempt to provide a new synthesis.Less
During the Reformation, new interpretations of Christianity were developed—with important consequences for international relations. Taking the thought of Thomas Aquinas as their starting point, Catholic scholars like Francisco de Vitoria argued for a natural law for all but they insisted that human beings were also obliged by Christian duties and commitments. These duties could only be fulfilled within the Catholic Church. Protestants rejected these claims and argued instead for one single set of ethical obligations, which were the duties of natural law. For them, natural law included both secular and religious principles, and it applied across national and political boundaries. The radical effects of this concept can be seen in the anonymously written Vindiciae, Contra Tyrannos. This chapter considers arguments on both sides of the confessional divide before discussing the Dutch scholar Hugo Grotius and his attempt to provide a new synthesis.
