Hugo Grotius’s theory of the «freedom of the seas» and its role in formation of the modern principles of international legal cooperation

The authors of the proposed article based on the methods of content analysis, historical and legal, chronological and comparative analysis of the works of outstanding Dutch polymath scientist, theorist and historian of law H. Grotius are studying his historical and legal heritage. Since the legal heritage of H. Grotius is wide and diverse, only his legal works that touch on issues of international law and such an institution as maritime law will be analyzed. In authors’ mind such works include his fundamental treatise “On the Law of War and Peace” and the smaller work “The Free Seas”. Although these works were written four hundred years ago, they do not only have an important historical and legal meaning but also initiated most of the modern principles of maritime law and also outlined the desirability and necessity of international interaction, which we now understood as international legal cooperation. At the edge of 16th–17th centuries the radical changes in the understanding of legal personality and sources of law took place, as a result of which metaphysical (divine) law gradually yielded to the theory of popular sovereignty, and the social contract theory gained popularity as a source of state formation. In the above works, H. Grotius formulated the main principles of international law of the early modern period, which, however, remain relevant at the present time. The most important of them can be considered the principle of sovereign equality of states (the law of equality), regardless of their size and military power. Thence follows the principle of equal access to the world ocean. H. Grotius convincingly proves the impossibility of declaring the World Ocean as a private property of one or more states, as it is impossible to establish a regime of real ownership of the water space, and therefore, the ocean can only be a common ownership of humanity. However, humanity is the unity of all people, which means that they can effectively use the sea only in cooperation and mutual assistance. Even in this early work, H. Grotius stands as a consistent supporter of the peaceful resolution of conflicts. He follows the same line in his further work. It is logical that his approach became the basis of modern principles of maritime law and international legal cooperation adopted by the UNO.