Francisco de Vitoria

Francisco De Vitoria

Francisco de Vitoria, OP (Francisco de Victoria; c. 1483, Vitoria – 12 August 1546, Salamanca) raised in Burgos, was a Spanish Renaissance Roman Catholic philosopher, theologian and jurist, founder of the tradition in philosophy known as the School of Salamanca, noted especially for his contributions to the theory of just war and international law. He has in the past been described by some scholars as the "father of international law", though contemporary academics have suggested that such a description is anachronistic, since the concept of an "international law" did not truly develop until much later. Because of Vitoria's conception of a "republic of the whole world" (res publica totius orbis) he recently has been labeled "founder of global political philosophy". Still, Vitoria is called one of the founders of international law along with Alberico Gentili and Hugo Grotius.