Francisco de Vitoria

This chapter argues that on the threshold of modernity, Vitoria’s jus gentium created a general framework for a legal order between people and nations. It shows how under the changing conditions of economy, theories of political domination, and relation between religious and secular spheres, the foundations of politics and law were re-assessed. At this juncture, one of the most important findings of Vitoria’s political and legal philosophy was that the sphere of political practice became more autonomous although still thought of as part of a God-given order. As the political power of the pope and the emperor was fading, new stakeholders gradually appeared. The traditional conception of totus orbis clarifies—one hundred years before the Peace of Westphalia—the scope in which different types of stakeholders such as individuals and social or political communities can act freely and (at least theoretically) interact on equal terms.