eum qui alterum vendere aut emere impediat, utilitatemve propriam publicae ac communi praeponat, aut ullo modo alterum in eo quod est iuris communis impediat, ad restitutionem teneri omnis damni viri boni arbitrio.
Secundum haec igitur vir bonus iudicans, Batavis libertatem commerciorum adiudicaret, Lusitanos et ceteros, qui eam libertatem impediunt, vetaret vim facere, et damna restituere iuberet. Quod autem in iudicio obtineretur, id ubi iudicium haberi non potest, iusto bello vindicatur. Augustinus:[190a] ‘Iniquitas partis adversae iusta ingerit bella’. Et Cicero:[191a] ‘Cum sint duo genera decertandi, unum per disceptationem, alterum per vim, confugiendum ad posterius, si uti non licet priore’. Et Rex Theodoricus: ‘Veniendum tunc ad arma, cum locum apud adversarium iustitia non potest reperire’. Et quod proprius est nostro argumento,[192a] Pomponius eum qui rem omnibus communem cum incommodo ceterorum usurpet, MANV PROHIBENDVM respondit. Theologi quoque tradunt, sicuti pro rerum cuiusque defensione bellum recte suscipitur, ita non minus recte suscipi, pro usu earum rerum quae naturali iure debent esse communes. Quare ei qui itinera praecludat, evectionemque mercium impediat, etiam non expectata ulla publica auctoritate, via facti, ut loquuntur, posse occurri.
Quae cum ita sint, minime verendum est, ne aut Deus
private interests before the public and common interests, or who in any way hinders another in the use of something which is his by common right, is held in damages to complete restitution in an amount fixed by an honorable arbitrator.
Following these principles a good judge would award to the Dutch the freedom of trade, and would forbid the Portuguese and others from using force to hinder that freedom, and would order the payment of just damages. But when a judgment which would be rendered in a court cannot be obtained, it should with justice be demanded in a war. Augustine[190] acknowledges this when he says: ‘The injustice of an adversary brings a just war’. Cicero also says:[191] “There are two ways of settling a dispute; first, by discussion; second, by physical force; we must resort to force only in case we may not avail ourselves of discussion.” And King Theodoric says: ‘Recourse must then be had to arms when justice can find no lodgment in an adversary’s heart’. Pomponius, however, has handed down a decision which has more bearing on our argument[192] than any of the citations already made. He declared that the man who seized a thing common to all to the prejudice of every one else must be forcibly prevented from so doing. The theologians also say that just as war is righteously undertaken in defense of individual property, so no less righteously is it undertaken in behalf of the use of those things which by natural law ought to be common property. Therefore he who closes up roads and hinders the export of merchandise ought to be prevented from so doing via facti, even without waiting for any public authority.
Since these things are so, there need not be the slightest