Alberico Gentili - Works

Works

Alberico Gentili wrote more than twenty books not only on law, but also on theological and literary subjects. Only his most influential legal works are mentioned below.

In 1582, Gentili published De Juris Interpretibus Dialogi Sex. This book shows Gentili as a staunch supporter of the bartolist method and an opponent of the French humanist jurists like Jacques Cujas, who applied philogical methods to the sources of Roman law.

Gentili's first book on issues of international law was De Legationibus Libri Tres, published in 1582. It was occasioned by a case on which Gentili's counsel was sought. In 1584 Gentili and Jean Hotman (1552—1636) were asked by the government to advise on the treatment of Spanish ambassador Bernardino de Mendoza (about 1540–1604), who had been implicated in the so-called Throckmorton plot against Queen Elizabeth I. Hotman was the son of the French law professor François Hotman (1524–1590) and—like Gentili—a lawyer trained on the continent who had come to England for religious reasons. He was in the service of the Earl of Leicester. Hotman, too, later published a book on diplomacy, L'ambassadeur, first published in Paris in 1603. Both Gentili and Hotman recommended that the ambassador only be expelled from England.

In 1589 Gentli first published De Jure Belli Commentationes Tres. An enhanced edition appeared under the title De Jure Belli Libri Tres. This is considered his principal work and a classic of public international law. The book is not only praised for its modernity and its skillful use of civil law concepts, but also for its closeness to the actual practice of international law.

After his death, Alberico Gentili's brother Scipione, who had become a professor of law at Altdorf, published a collection of notes on cases Alberico had worked on as an advocate for the Spanish embassy. The book bears the title Hispanicae Advocationis Libri Duo and appeared in 1613.

All above mentioned books are available in modern editions or reprints:

• De Iuris Interpretibus Dialogi Sex. Edited by Guido Astuti. Torino 1937.
• De Legationibus Libri Tres. With an introduction by Ernest Nys. New York 1924.
• De Iure Belli Libri Tres. 2 Vols. Text and Translation by John Rolfe. Oxford 1933.
• Hispanicae Advocationis Libri Duo. Text and Translation by Frank Frost Abbott. New York 1921.