Illustration after Joannes Stradanus. From Girolamo Benzoni's Americae...,Insignis & Admiranda Historia de reperta primum Occidentali India... Frankfurt: Johann Theodor De Bry, 1594-1619. Second German edition.

1. Right of merchants to free commerce (contingent)

2. Right to bear arms (absolute)

The Ius commune was a pan-European legal system, and its literature was universal. There were two reasons why.

1. Language.

2. Curriculum of Law Schools

Grotius was not separated from a Tellez by language, terminology, and intellectual background — or by religious belief. The result was a common set of presuppositions and an intellectual tradition that was not tainted by the parochial idiosyncrasies of local customs. In particular their thinking was not limited by the norms of local custom.