De Vattel: revisited
Emer de Vattel
Citizenship denialist hoax exposed!
Those advocating that we should change our traditional view of “natural born citizen” in favor of a view advocated by a 18th century Swiss philosopher, Emer de Vattel, argue that the framers of the Constitution relied on a work by that philosopher for their definition of “natural born citizen”. They cite this passage from his work, the short English title of which is The Law of Nations:
The natives, or natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens
Those words, however, are quoted from a translation of de Vattel that first appeared in 1797, 10 years after the Constitution’s ratification. Did the framers know Vattel’s work in the French? If so, there is a problem because the literal phrase “natural-born citizen” is not present in the original French which says:
Les Naturels ou indigènes font ceux qui font nés dans le pays de Parens Citoyens.
For those who don’t speak French, the word “citizen” (Citoyen) appears only ONCE in the sentence. (more…)
De Vattel for Dummies
Introduction
In 1758, Swiss philosopher and jurist Emmerich de Vattel published an influential work titled Le Droit des Gens. ou Principes de la Loi Naturelle, appliques a la conduite & aux affaires des Nations & des Souverains or translated into English, The Law of Nations or Principles of the Law of Nature Applied to the Conduct and Affairs of Nations and Sovereigns.
The long title is important because it tells us what the book is about. It is not a codification of international law, or a dictionary of legal terms. It is a book about natural law and how it applies to governments. In his book de Vattel tells us: The Law of Nations is the science which teaches the rights subsisting between nations or states, and the obligations correspondent to those rights.
The Law of Nations (as we will call the book going forward) is a wide-ranging book, looking at such topics as sovereignty (an intrinsic property of nations), international relations, making war and making peace. (more…)
The Law of Nations and the Law of the United States
Emer de Vattel
A mindless literalism appears among the nObama when they say that an 18th century Swiss jurist de Vattel’s work, Le Droit des Gens. ou Principes de la Loi Naturelle, appliques a la conduite & aux affaires des Nations & des Souverains, is written into the US Constitution because the phrase “The Law of Nations” appears therein (and that is a translation of a bit of Vattel’s French title). (more…)
