This article investigates the uses of the discourse of the law of nature and nations on the Guinea Coast of West Africa in the mid-eighteenth century. Drawing on the archival material of the Danish West India-Guinea Company and other contemporary sources, the article shows how the law of nature and nations was a key discourse by which Europeans and Africans made claims against each other competing

Drawing on archival material from the Danish Guinea Company and central administration, this article discusses the uses of the discourse of the law of nature and nations in the Danish-Dutch war of 1776–1778 on the Guinea Coast and its aftermath. It shows how Danish and Dutch administrators drew on the law of nature and nations to justify their competing claims in the war, which in turn hinged on c

This article examines the controversy surrounding Andreas Hojer, the future professor of natural law, and his youthful work on the non-prohibition of incestuous marriages by divine law that took place in 1719–1720 in Copenhagen. The article discusses manuscript sources from the theological faculty and central government to show how the controversy concerned not just Hojer's allegedly dangerous arg

Using eighteenth-century archival material from a Danish trading fort in West Africa, we explore how accounting and accountability systems were complicit with the crafting and narration of racialized slave trading during mercantile colonialism. By examining the role of accounting not at the slave trade's endpoint, e.g., plantations in the Americas, but at its points of extraction, we reveal the ro

This article discusses the works of the first two lecturers on natural law in Copenhagen, Henrik Weghorst and Christian Reitzer. Contrary to the existing scholarship which characterises their works as derivative of either Grotius or Pufendorf, the article argues that the character and significance of these works can only be grasped when understood in light of the local intellectual traditions whic

The article argues that existing scholarship has missed Melanchthon's central objective in writing the Commentarii in aliquot politicos libros Aristoteles. Rather than merely criticizing peasants and radical preachers, Melanchthon sought to refute the Ockhamist political thought of Gabriel Biel and John Mair. Using Aristotle's naturalism within the theological framework of the political order as o

This chapter discusses the inaugural dissertation of the first ex officio professor of natural law in Denmark, Andreas Hojer: the 1735 Dissertatio iuris publici universalis de eo quod iure belli licet in minores. In doing so, it seeks to shed light on a little-known figure in the early Danish enlightenment, albeit one who was very influential in his day. It explains why Hojer chose what, on the fa

This chapter discusses the earliest teaching of post-grotian natural law by Henrik Weghorst and Christian Reitzer in Copenhagen in the decades around 1700. This teaching has often been presented as merely derivative of the ideas of Hugo Grotius or Samuel Pufendorf. In contrast, this chapter argues that Weghorst and Reitzer developed two very different, and antagonistic, forms of natural law, refle

This chapter gives an account of Pufendorf’s discussion and use of the law of nations. It first outlines his distinctive contribution to contemporary discussions of the topic, namely his rejection rejection, against Grotius, of a specific “positive” law of nations distinct from the law of nature. Secondly it explains how this position relied on Pufendorf’s voluntarist conception of law as the comm

This book is the first contextual account of the political philosophy and natural law theory of the German reformer Philipp Melanchthon (1497-1560). Mads Langballe Jensen presents Melanchthon as a significant political thinker in his own right and an engaged scholar drawing on the intellectual arsenal of renaissance humanism to develop a new Protestant political philosophy. As such, he also shows

As the proverbial noose tightens around humanity’s resource spending, research is focused on utilizing materials to their fullest potential. Nanotechnology is the ultimate way to economize by splitting objects into smaller parts and dispersing the material properties over greater surface to volume ratios. Emerging quantum effects at the nanoscale present unique tweaking opportunities in applicatio

Abstract: Birds have evolved morphological, physiological and behavioural adaptations, encoded in their migratory programs, to enable successful migration. Sometimes, even closely related species, such as the Eurasian reed warbler and the sedge warbler, may adopt different migration strategies to reach their wintering grounds in sub-Saharan Africa. To study them in detail, we aimed to compare the

Connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) will be a key component of future cooperative intelligent transportation systems (C-ITS). Since the adoption of C-ITS is not foreseen to happen instantly, not all of its elements are going to be connected at the early deployment stages. We consider a scenario where vehicles approaching a traffic light are connected to each other, but the traffic light itself

Background: Prostate cancer (PC) survivors may potentially use substances to cope with psychological distress or poorly controlled physical symptoms. Little is known, however, about the long-term risks of alcohol use disorder (AUD) or drug use disorders in men with PC. Methods: A national cohort study was conducted in Sweden of 180-189 men diagnosed with PC between 1998 and 2017 and 1 801 890 age-

Mental health of trauma-affected refugees is an understudied area, resulting in inadequate and poorer treatment outcomes. To address this, more high-quality treatment studies that include predictive analyses, long-term evaluations, cultural adaptations, and take account for comorbidities, are needed. Moreover, given the complex intertwining of refugees’ health with post-migration stressors and oth

There is increased awareness of palliative care needs in people with COPD or interstitial lung disease (ILD). This European Respiratory Society (ERS) task force aimed to provide recommendations for initiation and integration of palliative care into the respiratory care of adult people with COPD or ILD. The ERS task force consisted of 20 members, including representatives of people with COPD or ILD