TY  - JOUR
TI  - Res communis and res nullius: Francisco de Vitoria and Alberico Gentili on Spatial Status and Just War
T2  - The Russian Sociological Review
IS  - The Russian Sociological Review
KW  - political space
KW  - international law
KW  - philosophy of war
KW  - just war
KW  - spatial turn
KW  - res communis
KW  - res nullius
KW  - Francisco de Vitoria
KW  - Alberico Gentili
AB  - The paper explores Early Modern patterns of international spatial thought through the lens of sixteenth century just war doctrines, focusing on the works of Spanish scholar Francisco de Vitoria and Italian-English jurist Alberico Gentili. Amid growing instability in the global legal order, the article turns to a foundational legal framework of sixteenth century Law of war — as expressed in Vitoria’s reflections On the American Indians and On the Law of War, and in Gentili’s treatise Three Books on the Law of War — to trace the origins of Early Modern spatial and legal thinking. The study seeks to integrate some crucial Early Modern concepts of world order into Russian-language scholarship. The article is centered on Vitoria’s and Gentili’s conceptualization of the world as a whole (mundus, totus orbis) and their application of Roman private law analogies — such as "res omnium communis" (common property) and "res nullius" (nobody’s property). The author critically examines their shared concept of ius gentium (the law of nations) grounded in natural reason: on the one hand, it constructs a universal legal framework encompassing the whole world, on the other hand, it lacks clear exclusion criteria, relying, instead, on an intuitive understanding of natural rights and natural human behaviour. Additionally, the article challenges the common scholarly portrayal of Gentili as an opponent of the just war doctrine.
AU  - Dar'ya Chaganova
UR  - https://sociologica.hse.ru/en/2025-24-3/1089105688.html
PY  - 2025
SP  - 121-151
VL  - 24