GROTIUS,HUGO ON ETHICS AND WAR

Interest in the thought of Hugo Grotius on international law and ethic s is justified inasmuch as he attempted to define a theoretical positi on between an idealism he thought counterproductive and an amoral real ism he found unacceptable. Grotius constructed a system in which the m oral authority of natural law was combined with the flexibility of hum an law. This required him to develop a special understanding of the na ture and relation of these two types of law. In giving the law of nati ons, as a product of human will, the authority to suspend provisions o f natural law he provided for a code of international conduct that cou ld permit injustice where necessary, without abandoning moral ideals a ltogether.