Grotian constitutionalism: Legitimacy and limits in the civil thought of Hugo Grotius

雨果·格劳秀斯在政治和法律的思想史上占有突出的地位;他以国际法和自然法的“双重父亲”而闻名（Edwards，1981：9）。然而，我希望探讨他的公民哲学，以揭示和审查他的思想的宪法方面。这项研究背后的推动力是我所感知到的格劳秀斯作为一个国际理论家和作为一个公民哲学家之间的不和谐：格劳秀斯，国际理论家，被描述为人道主义干预的支持者;而格劳秀斯，公民哲学家，被描述为同情暴君（Rousseau，1997）.在我提议的研究的中心的关键问题是：格劳秀斯的宪政理论的要素是什么？他能被恰当地称为宪法理论家吗？他对宪政思想的贡献是什么？他的宪政理论能告诉我们他的公民哲学与他的国际思想之间的关系是什么？我们能否重新评价格劳秀斯在政治思想史地图上的位置，并驳回对他的专制主义指控？在方法论上，我的研究将遵循对格劳秀斯文本的持续文本分析，以揭示和研究他的宪法理论，并与他自己的对话者进行接触。虽然我设想分析主要集中在他的战争与和平的权利，我也希望范围包括其他文本，包括法律的奖励和战利品，他的历史著作，他的早期小册子。例如，丹尼尔李（2016：272）证明了格劳秀斯对罗马用益权的法律的概念的使用如何将他与“更广泛的法学思维模式联系起来，这种思维模式促进了一种独特的现代宪政主义学派的引入”;马可·巴杜奇（Marco Barducci，2017）强调了格老秀斯在英国内战的宪法辩论中的作用，Straumann（2015）也有回应; Nehal Bhuta（2021）推进了格劳秀斯的“现代”国家理论，Gustaaf货车Nifterik（2018）评价了对格劳秀斯宪政思想的各种解释。然而，这些研究并没有深入到重建对格劳秀斯宪政体系的全面理解。因此，我认为对格罗先宪政主义的系统阐述仍然缺乏。我的论述将为当前的文献提供四个贡献。首先，它将发展我们对格劳秀斯的公民哲学的理解，并使我们能够将其视为他思想的一个组成部分，而不仅仅是他的国际理论的一个组成部分。第二，通过展示他的公民思想和国际思想之间的联系，加深我们对格罗香计划的理解。第三，它将通过探索和发展李（2016）所做的联系来丰富宪政的思想史，例如，格劳秀斯与古代，中世纪和现代迭代之间的联系。第四，它将涉及一个长期存在的政治理论问题，即关于对主权当局承担的政治义务的基础和范围的问题。

Hugo Grotius holds a prominent place in the history of political and legal thought; he is known for his 'dual paternity' of both international and natural law (Edwards, 1981: 9). However, I wish to explore his civil philosophy to uncover and examine the constitutional aspects of his thinking. The impetus behind this research is what I perceive to be a dissonance in the literature between Grotius as an internationaltheorist and as a civil philosopher: Grotius, the international theorist, is presented as a proponent of humanitarian intervention; whereas Grotius, the civil philosopher, is depicted as being sympathetic to tyrants (Rousseau, 1997).The key questions at the centre of my proposed research are: what are the elements of Grotius's constitutional theory? Can he appropriately be called a constitutional theorist? What are his contributions to constitutional thought? What can his constitutional theory tell us about the relationship between his civil philosophy and his international thought? Can we reappraise Grotius's position on the map of the history of political thought and dismiss the accusations of absolutism?Methodologically, my research will follow a sustained textual analysis of Grotius's texts to uncover and examine his constitutional theory, as well as engaging with his own interlocutors. Although I envision the analysis primarily to focus on his Rights of War and Peace, I also expect the scope to encompass other texts including Law of Prize and Booty, his historical works, and his early tracts.Interest in Grotius's constitutionalist credentials is burgeoning. For example, Daniel Lee (2016: 272) has demonstrated how Grotius's use of the Roman legal concept of usufruct has linked him to a 'broader juristic pattern of thought that has facilitated the introduction of a distinctively modern school of constitutionalism'; Marco Barducci (2017) has emphasised the employment of Grotius in the constitutional debates of the English Civil War, also echoed by Straumann (2015); Nehal Bhuta (2021) has advanced Grotius's 'modern' state theory, and Gustaaf van Nifterik (2018) has appraised a variety of interpretations of Grotius's constitutional thought. Yet, these studies do not go so far as to reconstruct a comprehensive understanding of Grotius's constitutional system. Thus, I think a systematic account of Grotian constitutionalism remains wanting.My treatment will offer four contributions to the current literature. First, it will develop our insights into Grotius's civil philosophy and allow us to consider it as an integral piece of his thought, not a mere building block for his international theory. Second, it will enhance our understanding of the Grotian project by demonstrating consistencies between his civil and international thought. Third, it will enrich the intellectual history of constitutionalism by probing and developing the connections made by Lee (2016), for example, between Grotius and ancient, medieval, and modern iterations. Fourth, it will speak to a perennial question of political theory, namely that concerning the basis and extent of political obligation owed to the sovereign authority.