MARITIME INTERNATIONAL LAW. 287 



— (2) the Laws of Antwerp — (3) a celebrated Code of Maritime 

 Law, called the Wisbische Seerechton, after the town of Wisby on 

 the Island of Gothland, in the Baltic Sea, and this Code of 

 Maritime Law was recognised in the ports and islands of the 

 greater part of Northern Europe. 



In the 14th century, an attempt, for the first time, at Barcelona, 

 was made to codify the Maritime Laws in practice by Modern 

 Europe, and this codification embraced, the rules of commerce and 

 Navigation in times of peace ; and, also, the rules for maritime war, 

 affecting the rights of belligerents and of neutrals. 



The Consolato del Mare was the title of this famous Code of 

 Maritime Law — the able production of eminent jurisconsults — 

 well acquainted with the Roman Law and the legislation of 

 Marinal countries, especially of France and Spain, and the 

 accepted rules in the -ports and islands in the Eastern Archipelago. 



The Consolato del Mare, for many centuries, was regarded by 

 the Maritime Powers of Europe as the most authoritative system of 

 Maritime Law incorporated into the Law of Nations, and it main- 

 tained its high reputation through all the great events of Maritime 

 History, until the Congress of Paris, in 1856, reversed the principles 

 upon which it was based, which we shall, in due course, refer to. 



In the 1 6th century, an eminent French jurisconsult, whose 

 name is not known, published a valuable treatise entitled the 

 Guidon de la Mer, and the principles, therein stated, received the 

 highest sanction from the best authorities upon Maritime Law, 

 especially with reference to lettres de marque, maritime prizes, and 

 reprisals. In addition to the questions dealt up with under the domain 

 of Public Law, the Guidon de la Mer embraced many subjects in 

 the more intricate branch of private Maritime Law, especially with 

 reference to Marine Insurance and Maritime Contracts, and the 

 principles for guidance laid down on these subjects were after- 

 wards adopted as the lex mercatoria, and, according to Wheaton, 

 now form the bases of the present commercial code of France. 



In 1609, appeared the famous work of Grotius on the subject of 

 Mare Liberum, which declared the open sea, or main ocean, as 

 the highway of all nations, the common property of all mankind ; 

 and in 1635, Selden pubUshed the learned work entitled Mare 

 Clausum, which claimed a Maritime Domain, an exclusive right, 

 over the waters, within certain prescribed limits, of a Maritime 

 State. 



