Gentili, Alberico (älbārēˈkō jāntēˈlē) [key], 1552–1608, Italian
writer on international law. Forced to leave Italy because of
his Protestantism, he went to England (1580), where he became
regius professor of civil law, Oxford, and in 1605 became
advocate for the king of Spain in the British admiralty court.
His De legationibus (1585) had a great influence in shaping
modern diplomatic practice. In De jure belli [on the law of war]
(1598), one of the earliest works on international law, he
developed many ideas on the legal conduct of war to which Hugo
Grotius later gave wider circulation. The Columbia Electronic
Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University
Press. All rights reserved. See more Encyclopedia articles on:
Law: Biographies