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Utopian Relations: A Literary Perspective on International Law and Justice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 July 2015

Kelly De Luca
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Extract

This article posits an interpretation of Thomas More’s Utopia that focuses on the ways in which the nature of justice within a putatively ideal state is illuminated by references to international relations and the law of nations. Like Plato’s Republic, Utopia uses differences of scale to provide a lens through which to examine the operation in one context of a unitary concept that is more visible elsewhere. Justice is constructed as a single concept; thus, in the same way that Plato uses the justice of the kallipolis to provide insight into the justice of an individual, More uses the justice of the international community to provide a macroscopic perspective on justice as it exists within a sovereign state. Through discussions of trade, diplomacy, war and empire, Utopian understandings of international law and justice are revealed. The ideal organisation of the state is then characterised as one in which the resulting notions of justice, defined as the correct operation of laws that accord with natural law, are institutionalised.

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Discussion
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Canadian Journal of Law & Jurisprudence , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , July 2014 , pp. 521 - 534
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Copyright © Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence 2014

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References

A previous version of this paper was presented at the Imagining Justice in Early Modern English Literature and Culture workshop at Carleton University. I am grateful to the participants for their feedback, and to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for funding the workshop.

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4. Ibid at 216-17.

5. Ibid at 120-35.

6. Ibid at 140-41.

7. Ibid at 134-45. This must be contrasted with Plato’s Republic, which replaced the family structure with communal living and the rearing of children in state-run nurseries: Plato, , Republic, translated by Grube, GMA, revised by CDC Reeve (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1992) 423e–424a, 449c, and 459d-460dGoogle Scholar; Hexter, supra note 2 at xliv.

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9. Ibid at 112-13, 122-25.

10. Ibid at 112-13, 164-65, 190-93.

11. Ibid at 130-33, 144-45, 178-85.

12. Ibid at 128-29, 146-47, 170-71.

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14. Hexter, supra note 2 at xv-xxiii; Wootton, supra note 2 at 4-5.

15. More, supra note 1 at 56-59.

16. “Neque haec tamen sola est furandi necessitas. Est alia magis quantum credo, peculiaris uobis. Quaenam est ea? inquit Cardinalis. Oues inquam uestrae, quae tam mites esse, tamque exiguo solent ali, nunc (uti fertur) tam edaces atque indomitae esse coeperunt, ut homines deuorent ipsos, agros, domos, oppida uastent ac depopulentur.” “‘Yet this is not the only situation that makes thieving necessary. There is another which, as I believe, is more special to you Englishmen.’ ‘What is that?’ asked the Cardinal. ‘Your sheep,’ I answered, ‘which are usually so tame and so cheaply fed, begin now, according to report, to be so greedy and wild that they devour human beings themselves and devastate and depopulate fields, houses, and towns.’” Ibid at 64-67.

17. Ibid at 106-09.

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32. Ibid.

33. “… ingressi sunt legati tres, cum comitibus centum, omnes uestitu uersicolori, plerique serico, legati ipsi (nam domi nobiles erant) amictu aureo, magnis torquibus, & inauribus aureis, ad haec anulis aureis in manibus, monilibus insuper appensis in pileo, quae margaritis ac gemmis affulgebant, omnibus postremo rebus ornati, quae apud Utopienses, aut seruorum supplicia, aut infamium dedecora, aut puerorum nugamenta fuere. Itaque operae precium erat uidere, quo pacto cristas erexerint, ubi suum ornatum cum Utopiensium uestitu (nam in plateis sese populus effuderat) contulere, contraque non minus erat uoluptatis consyderare quam longe sua eos spes expectatioque fefellerat, quamquam longe ab ea existimatione aberant, quam se consecuturos putauerant. Nempe Utopiensium oculis omnium, exceptis perquam paucis, qui alias gentes aliqua idonea de causa inuiserant, totus ille splendor apparatus pudendus uidebatur, & infimum quenque pro dominis reuerenter salutantes, legatos ipsos ex aurearum usu catenarum pro seruis habitos, sine ullo prorsus honore praetermiserunt.”: Ibid at 154-55.

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35. Ibid at 148-49.

36. Ibid at 184-45.

37. “… populos, urbes, oppida, in his assidua non inter se modo, ac finitimos, sed procul etiam dissitas gentes, terra marique commercia”: Ibid at 52-53.

38. Ibid at 196-97.

39. Ibid at 198-99.

40. “… hostes atque inimicos inuicem sese natos putent, meritoque in mutuam grassari perniciem, nisi foedera prohibeant …”: Ibid at 198-99.

41. “… in illis terrarum plagis, foedera pactaque principum solent parum bona fide seruari”: Ibid at 196-97.

42. “… sancta est & inuiolabilis ubique maiestas foederum, partim ipsa iustitia & bonitate principum, partim summorum reuerentia metuque pontificum…. ita caeteros omnes principes iubent, ut pollicitis omnibus modis immorentur, tergiuersantes uero pastorali censura & seueritate compellunt”: Ibid at 196-97.

43. Ibid at 110-11.

44. “… ut ingentes copiae paucis inde queant propugnatoribus arceri”: Ibid at 110-11.

45. “ne si qua uis hostium ingruat, intercipi, atque auerti aqua, neue corrumpi queat”: Ibid at 118-19.

46. “… assidue militari sese disciplina exerceant…”: Ibid at 200-01.

47. Ibid at 148-49.

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50. “… aut populum quempiam tyrannide pressum, miserati … suis uiribus Tyranni iugo, & seruitute liberent”: More, supra note 1 at 200-01. In this, More follows Aristotle and Aquinas in positing what modern international law terms a “responsibility to protect”: Caspari, supra note 49 at 305.

51. More, supra note 1 at 200-03.

52. “… uel iniquarum praetextu legum, uel sinistra deriuatione bonarum, iniustam subeunt, iustitiae colore, calumniam”: Ibid at 200-01. This was not an uncommon problem in early modern Europe; the inability to obtain justice in a foreign court, either because of the inconveniences of long-distance litigation or because of a systematic bias against foreign litigants, was a frequent complaint and was one reason why John Dee advocated the strengthening of the English navy later in the century: Dee, John, General and Rare Memorials pertayning to the Perfect Arte of Navigation (London, 1577) at 6.Google Scholar

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54. “Bellum utpote rem plane beluinam, nec ulli tamen beluarum formae in tam assiduo, atque homini est usu, summopere abominantur, contraque morem gentium ferme omnium nihil aeque ducunt inglorium, atque petitam e bello gloriam”: More, supra note 1 at 198-201.

55. Ibid at 204-09.

56. Ibid at 206-07.

57. Machiavelli, Niccolò, The Prince, in Selected Political Writings, ed and translated by Wootton, David (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1993) at ch 12.Google Scholar

58. Hexter, supra note 2 at xxiii; Tinkler, John F, “Praise and Advice: Rhetorical Approaches in More’s Utopia and Machiavelli’s the Prince” (1988) 19 Sixteenth Century Journal 187 at 187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

59. More, supra note 1 at 202-05.

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62. More, supra note 1 at 214-15.

63. Ibid at 88-91.

64. Ibid at 136-37. This mirrors Plato’s suggestion concerning the same problem: Donner, supra note 28 at 61.

65. “Cum uolentibus coniuncti in idem uitae institutum: eosdemque mores, facile coalescunt, idque utriusque populi bono”: More, supra note 1 at 136-37.

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71. Ibid at 92-93.

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73. Donner, supra note 28 at 41.

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80. Kumar, supra note 18 at 24.

81. Surtz, supra note 79 at cxxxix.

82. Ibid at cxxxiv.

83. Plato, supra note 7 at 368c-369c.

84. Ibid at 331e.

85. More, supra note 1 at 164-65.

86. Ibid at 200-01.

87. “Budé to Lupset,” supra note 22 at 8-9.

88. Plato, supra note 7 at 334b.

89. Ibid at 338c.

90. Ibid at 443c-444a.