Grotius and International Equality

The doctrine of the equality of sovereign states is one of the central postulates in the theory and practice of international law and international relations in the contemporary world. Grotius's major work, De Jure Belli ac Pacis, is consistent with the view that all states have equality before the law. Grotius is less clear that all states have equal capacity for rights, but nothing in his work suggests that he believed in an international caste system that would divide sovereign states into separate classes with varying degrees of capacity for rights. Even those non‐state entities that do not have full sovereignty are nonetheless under the protection of natural law.