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Francisco de Vitoria and the Postmodern Grand Critique of International Law

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At the Origins of Modernity

Part of the book series: Studies in the History of Law and Justice ((SHLJ,volume 10))

Abstract

Although quasi-hagiographic studies of Francisco de Vitoria are, fortunately, longer in fashion, the standardization of historiographical analysis regarding Francisco de Vitoria is as yet incomplete. Postmodern critics of international law are currently proposing an alternative history of international law, using Francisco de Vitoria extensively as a springboard for a new grand and overarching narrative of international law. Within such narrative, international law was a mere instrument of colonial oppression invented by Vitoria and others at the time of the encounter of the Old and New Worlds and continues to be so to the present day. This article aims to contextualize the ideas of Vitoria and take issue with this argument, framing Vitoria as an honourable moderate thinker of his time.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See, for example, Rosenthal 1971, 204–228.

  2. 2.

    See particularly Pérez Luño 1992, 31.

  3. 3.

    Pagden 1994, x.

  4. 4.

    Mechoulan 1988, 25.

  5. 5.

    Williams 1992, 106–107 (emphasis added).

  6. 6.

    Cavallar 2008, 207.

  7. 7.

    Snyder and Sathirathai 1987.

  8. 8.

    Mutua 2000.

  9. 9.

    Bedjaoui 1985, 153 (emphasis added).

  10. 10.

    Mutua 2000, 33 (emphasis added).

  11. 11.

    Weeramantry and Berman 1999, 1565.

  12. 12.

    Anghie 1993, 505–506.

  13. 13.

    Anghie 1998, 375.

  14. 14.

    Anghie 1996, 321–336.

  15. 15.

    Anghie 2005, 3.

  16. 16.

    Bowden 2005, 1–23. See also Bowden 2006, 689–692.

  17. 17.

    Obiora 2006, 729.

  18. 18.

    Cavallar, 184.

  19. 19.

    Villey 1968, 357.

  20. 20.

    Truyol 1999, 70–71.

  21. 21.

    Hamilton 1963.

  22. 22.

    Truyol 1999, 71.

  23. 23.

    Zúñiga 1981. See also Bouza 1991.

  24. 24.

    Truyol 1998, 80.

  25. 25.

    For both the protestant and “Norman Yoke” discourse on the American Indians, see Williams 1992 (parts II and III).

  26. 26.

    Cavallar, 188.

  27. 27.

    de Vitoria 1960.

  28. 28.

    For a detailed study of the relationship of Charles V with the financial community, see Carande 1990.

  29. 29.

    Lesaffer 2004, 32.

  30. 30.

    Vitoria 1935, 61.

  31. 31.

    Getino 1930, 218.

  32. 32.

    Getino 1930, 220–221.

  33. 33.

    de Sandoval 1614, n. VIII.

  34. 34.

    Godman 2000, 136–138.

  35. 35.

    Pereña 1979, 36–37.

  36. 36.

    Baciero 1984, 416.

  37. 37.

    de Vitoria 1967, 137.

  38. 38.

    de Vitoria 1967, 138.

  39. 39.

    Charles 1914, 427.

  40. 40.

    de Vitoria 1960.

  41. 41.

    de Vitoria 1960.

  42. 42.

    Getino 1930, 150.

  43. 43.

    Charles 1928, 163.

  44. 44.

    Charles 1914, 428.

  45. 45.

    de Vitoria et al. 1967 (Parecer), 158.

  46. 46.

    Getino 1930, 67.

  47. 47.

    Astrain, 319.

  48. 48.

    Hamilton 1963, 175.

  49. 49.

    For a detailed list of professors and students from Salamanca in the Indies (1534–1585), see Pereña 1986, 216–255.

  50. 50.

    Williams (1992) (see Chap. 2 in particular).

  51. 51.

    Pagden 1990, 25.

  52. 52.

    Klucas 1992, 87–98.

  53. 53.

    Roersch 1940–1941.

  54. 54.

    Roersch 1940–1941, 133.

  55. 55.

    Getino 1930, 66.

  56. 56.

    Getino 1930, 31.

  57. 57.

    Hamilton 1963, 174.

  58. 58.

    For a depiction as an early “intellectual”, in Gramscian terms, see Barbier 1999, 100–101.

  59. 59.

    De los Rios 1997, 485.

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  1. Carlos III University of Madrid, Getafe, Spain

    Pablo Zapatero Miguel

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  1. Institute for European Studies, CEU San Pablo University, Madrid, Spain

    José María Beneyto

  2. Institute for European studies, CEU San Pablo University , Madrid, Spain

    Justo Corti Varela

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Zapatero Miguel, P. (2017). Francisco de Vitoria and the Postmodern Grand Critique of International Law. In: Beneyto, J., Corti Varela, J. (eds) At the Origins of Modernity. Studies in the History of Law and Justice, vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62998-8_10

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