Quiz: On the Law of War and Peace

All 50 questions. A perfect score earns the gold medal; 80% earns silver.

1. 1. Why, according to the people of Marseilles, should neutrals not judge the rights of the war between Caesar and Pompey?

   They could not tell which side was just, nor enforce a ruling Their treaties with Rome forbade them to take sides in civil war Both commanders had already promised to respect their territory Their religion forbade them any part in a war between citizens
2. 2. When, according to Grotius in II.3, can a sea not become property?

   When it is a bay with a narrow mouth When it is shared by the several states whose coasts border on it When it is vast beyond any comparison with the lands it washes When it lies wholly between the shores of a single prince’s lands
3. 3. What principle does Grotius state about the grounds of war?

   They are whatever the sovereign declares them to be They are as numerous as those of judicial actions They are limited to defence of territory They are fixed by the treaties between nations
4. 4. What does Grotius conclude about burying the bodies of public enemies?

   It is owed by common consent, since war leaves them still men It may lawfully be refused as a punishment of the defeated enemy It is owed only to enemy generals, not to common soldiers It is a matter left wholly to the victor’s discretion and mercy
5. 5. Under the Athenian androlepsia, what could the relatives of a man murdered abroad do?

   Declare war on that country in the name of Athens Demand a fixed money compensation from its rulers Seize up to three subjects of that country until the killers were punished or surrendered Confiscate the goods of all its merchants in Athens
6. 6. Why does the law of nations, in Grotius’s account, not exempt sacred things from capture?

   They are public property, dedicated to religion but still owned They belong to the gods alone, who cannot be wronged by human beings The Church had authorised their seizure in just wars against infidels Temples were always used as fortresses and arsenals in ancient war
7. 7. May a merchant sell grain at a high price without telling buyers that more grain ships are on the way?

   Yes; it is uncharitable but not unjust Only in time of war No; it is fraud under natural law Only if he swears to the price
8. 8. Which city does Grotius cite, from Livy, as a people that lost its political form though its inhabitants kept their personal liberty?

   Saguntum Messene Capua Carthage
9. 9. When, according to Grotius, does discovery give a title to land?

   Whenever the inhabitants are not Christian Only when the land has no owner When the discoverer's sovereign has a papal grant When the inhabitants are judged wicked or impious
10. 10. Which acts does Grotius say human laws cannot punish?

    Offences against foreign states and their envoys Mere intentions that never reach action Thefts committed by the poor out of extreme want Crimes completed in secret, without witnesses
11. 11. Plato names the offender's amendment and the example to others as ends of punishment. What third end does Taurus add?

    Expiation offered to the gods The honour of the judge The enrichment of the public treasury Satisfaction to the injured party
12. 12. Whose opinion does Grotius refute at the opening of II.11, that bare promises are not enforced by the law of nature?

    Covarruvias Vasquez Medina Franciscus Connanus
13. 13. Why was it just in Holland to charge merchants twelve per cent when ordinary loans paid eight?

    Because the hazard of lending to them was greater Because merchants could deduct it from customs duties Because Roman law fixed that rate Because merchants were foreigners
14. 14. Which of these groups is not on Grotius’s list of those to be spared in war in III.11?

    Merchants Men devoted to learning and letters Deserters taken in arms Farmers who till the soil
15. 15. According to the Prolegomena, the law of nature would have a degree of validity even if what were conceded?

    That the Roman law had never existed That men are by nature solitary and wholly without speech That every state was equally strong and needed no allies That there is no God, or that he cares nothing for men
16. 16. According to Grotius, what separates a state that acts unjustly from a band of pirates?

    The state has been recognised by the Pope or by the Emperor Nothing at all: a state that wages aggressive war is just a band of robbers The state has a larger population and territory than any band of pirates The state keeps its laws, courts and treaties; pirates share only crime
17. 17. What must a state do with someone in its territory who has wronged another state, when that state complains?

    Expel him without trial Either punish him itself or hand him over Grant him asylum if he asks for it Always hand him over, whatever the circumstances
18. 18. What does Grotius say about the debts of a commonwealth that becomes a monarchy?

    They lapse together with the old republican constitution The new king may choose whether or not to honour them The state still owes them, being the same people Only the citizens who voted for the loans must pay them
19. 19. How does Grotius explain the Roman rule allowing captivity and postliminium even between nations not at war?

    As a mistake by later Roman lawyers As a rule borrowed from the old treaties between Rome and Carthage As a deliberate policy to encourage trade between friendly nations As a survival from rude, pastoral ages before settled society
20. 20. What happens to a boundary river, in Grotius’s view, when it entirely abandons its old channel?

    The older-established state takes the whole river The boundary follows the new channel The land between the channels becomes common to both states It becomes a new river, and the boundary stays where it was
21. 21. How long does Grotius say “time immemorial” roughly amounts to?

    Fifty years, as Aratus held Three hundred years, as in Jephthah’s case Close to a hundred years, about three generations Thirty years
22. 22. What does Grotius say about attacking a neighbouring power merely because its growing greatness causes alarm?

    It is required by the law of nations It may be expedient but can never be just It is just once an alliance has been formed against it It is just if the neighbour is a monarchy
23. 23. What does Grotius conclude about making treaties with nations who are not Christian?

    It is permitted only for treaties of commerce, never alliances It is lawful only if the other nation agrees to convert It is forbidden by the Gospel, which bars yoking with unbelievers It is lawful: natural rights belong to all men alike
24. 24. Which writer’s line does Grotius quote to show that peace needs armies, armies need pay and pay needs taxation?

    Seneca, in his letters to his friend Lucilius Cicero, in his speech for Milo on self-defence Livy, in a speech of Camillus to the Senate Tacitus, quoting Petilius Cerealis
25. 25. Why does Grotius hold that no new declaration of war is needed when a truce expires?

    Because only the Roman heralds required formal declarations Because a truce is a form of peace that ends of itself Because the original declaration is renewed by the truce itself Because a truce only suspends fighting; the war goes on
26. 26. How does Grotius explain the purpose of the law of nations in making captives slaves?

    It punished whole peoples who had started unjust wars of conquest It supplied the labour needed to rebuild cities destroyed in the war It satisfied a command of the Hebrew law It gave captors a motive to spare prisoners rather than kill them
27. 27. Why does Grotius think the Romans were justified in refusing the Ansibarians’ request for unoccupied land?

    The land was not really empty: it fed the Roman army’s cattle The Ansibarians had refused to submit to Roman law and tribute The Ansibarians were then waging an unjust war on Rome’s allies The land was sacred to the Roman gods
28. 28. What does Grotius say about resident ambassadors?

    The law of nations requires every sovereign to accept them They lose their immunity after one year They were the usual practice of the Romans and the Greek cities They are modern, unknown to antiquity, and may be refused
29. 29. How does Grotius define war?

    As a contest between sovereigns only, after declaration As any act of force against another’s property As a just contention decided by arms As the state of contending parties, considered as such
30. 30. In III.4, what does Grotius say the word “lawful” often means when applied to acts of war?

    That the act is required by the law of nature That a neutral court has approved the act Only that the act goes unpunished, not that it is morally right That the act is commanded by divine law
31. 31. Which people, according to Grotius, refused a popular government when the Romans offered it, saying they could not exist safely without a king?

    The Cappadocians The Campanians The Thracians The Rhodians
32. 32. What recent practice in the wars of the Low Countries does Grotius cite as a model of moderation?

    Restoring captured churches to their former congregations Leaving agriculture alone in return for contributions paid to both armies Allowing besieged towns to surrender before the bombardment began Exchanging all prisoners at the end of every campaign
33. 33. What does Grotius give as the real reason a declaration is needed for a formal war?

    To satisfy the religious rites of the Roman fetial priests and the gods To avoid any appearance of treachery, as an act of open magnanimity To show the war is a public act of sovereigns, not a private one To give the enemy a fixed period of thirty days in which to prepare
34. 34. How does Grotius resolve whether the clause protecting “allies” covered Saguntum, Rome’s later ally?

    The Ebro convention with Hasdrubal decided the matter The clause was void because it was never sworn It covered all future allies, so Carthage broke the treaty It covered only allies at the time of the treaty, so Carthage broke no treaty
35. 35. In a doubtful dispute where both claims are equal, whose claim does Grotius prefer?

    The claimant's The present possessor's Neither, since the thing must be destroyed Whichever party is the stronger
36. 36. What sign does Grotius say signals a request for a parley in his own day?

    A shield placed on the head A spear thrown into the ground Pikes raised upright A white flag
37. 37. Whom does Grotius appoint as the “pleader” for those who deny that there is any law between peoples?

    Machiavelli Thucydides Carneades Thrasymachus
38. 38. What does Grotius conclude about the power of the Roman Dictator?

    It was subject to appeal to the people It was sovereign, though held only for a time It was not sovereign because it was not permanent It was a usurpation of the Senate’s power
39. 39. Why, according to Grotius, is an heir bound by his ancestor's debts but not liable to his punishment?

    Punishments are cancelled by the ancestor’s repentance before death The state itself takes over all penalties at the offender’s death Debts arise from divine law, punishments from civil law The heir takes on the dead man’s property, not his guilt
40. 40. According to Grotius, what was Alexander's real motive for making war on Darius?

    Defending Macedonia against a planned Persian invasion Avenging the Persians' former wrongs against the Greeks Spreading Greek religion to Asia The easy acquisition of wealth and dominion that earlier Greek expeditions had revealed
41. 41. What, according to Grotius, did John the Baptist tell the soldiers who asked him what they should do?

    To fight only in defence of Jerusalem and the Temple against invaders To refuse to serve under pagan officers or to swear the military oath To leave the army at once and follow him into the desert to be baptised To use no violence or extortion and be content with their wages
42. 42. How far, according to the rule Grotius reports from Holland, is a shipowner liable for his master’s acts?

    Without any limit, as under Roman law Only for acts he expressly authorised in writing No further than the value of the ship and cargo Not at all, the master alone being liable
43. 43. What does Grotius say about making war on nations that refuse to accept Christianity?

    It is just only when the Pope has authorised it by a bull It is just if missionaries have first preached to them in vain It is unjust: faith needs evidence and grace, not force It is just against nations that worship idols or the sun
44. 44. What story does Grotius tell to show that the natural liberty of punishing survives where no court is available?

    Alexander executed the pirates of the Aegean without trial Julius Caesar, as a private man, raised ships and crucified pirates who had held him for ransom The Rhodians drew up a maritime law against pirates Pompey pardoned the pirates and settled them as farmers
45. 45. What does Grotius call nature in relation to municipal (civil) law?

    Its great-grandmother Its enemy Its handmaid Its mother
46. 46. How does Grotius treat goods that are of no use in war and serve only luxury, when they are carried to an enemy?

    It makes the carrier an enemy They may be seized only in a blockade No just complaint can be made against it They may always be seized as contraband of war
47. 47. What position of Cicero’s does Grotius reject in II.13?

    That an oath is a solemn appeal to God as witness and avenger That oaths must be kept in the sense in which the imposer intended That kings’ plain word binds them as strictly as an oath That an oath to pay robbers for one’s life need not be kept
48. 48. By the recent European rule Grotius reports, when does a capture become good and lawful?

    When the war in which it was taken has ended When it has been carried across the equator When it has been condemned by a court of the captor’s sovereign When it has been in the enemy’s possession for twenty-four hours
49. 49. Why, according to Grotius, can the ocean not be occupied as property?

    Because the Pope has declared it common to all Christian peoples Because it is fluid and boundless, and cannot be enclosed Because no single nation has yet sailed or charted all of it Because fish and other wild creatures cannot be owned
50. 50. What example does Grotius use to show that the law of nature cannot be changed even by God?

    That the sun must rise in the east That two and two must make four That a circle cannot be square That fire must burn