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Summary: Compared to the writings of other teólogos-juristas belonging to the so-called School of Salamanca, Pedro de Oñate's (1567-1646) De contractibus has met with little if almost no interest in the literature. It nevertheless marks an epochal achievement in the history of juridical and economic thought. Published between 1646 and 1654, Oñate's De contractibus epitomizes five centuries of scholastic thinking about the moral regulation of the market. It is a spectacular work, addressing hundreds of problems related to contractual agreements and commercial life in general. This paper offers an overview of Oñate's lengthy assessment of monopolistic practices, including price-fixing cartels, import barriers, the creation of artificial scarcity, and legal monopolies, including the conceptualization of intellectual property. Two major conclusions can be reached from the close-reading of Oñate's treatment of monopolistic practices. First, Oñate's opinions are marked by an even starker emphasis on individual rights, property and freedom than those of his colleagues working in major cities on the other side of the Atlantic. Second, his analysis is not only the reflection of his extraordinary knowledge of centuries of scholastic thinking about the morality of the market, but also of his practical experience in the New World. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In textbooks on international law, Grotius's I De iure belli ac pacis i is frequently cited as proof of the Protestant origins of international law. Grotius, after all, did not only write juridical works, but also major theological treatises.[7] He was a theologian as much as a lawyer.[8] Waszink's subtle, short but important wake-up call can be read as an invitation to try to go beyond traditional narratives and concentrate on what mattered to Grotius himself. As a matter of fact, Astorri indicates in his contribution that Lutheran theologians in the German area were eager to study Hugo Grotius as an alternative to Pufendorf, whom they considered as threatening in many regards.[21] Major Lutheran theologians such as Johann Adam Osiander, who taught at Tübingen in the second half of the seventeenth century and counted many Swedish youngsters among his students, engaged intensely with Grotius's I De iure belli ac pacis i . 28 S. Penner, "Making Use of the Testimonies: Suárez and Grotius on Natural Law", I infra i . 29 C. Stumpf, 'Consent and the Ethics of International Law - Revising Grotius's System of States in a Secular Setting', I infra i . 30 B. [Extracted from the article]

This article investigates how unofficial and official laws interact in regulating rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCA) in the Tigray Regional State in northern Ethiopia. ROSCAs are informal institutions that provide saving and lending facilities in traditional communities and societies across the world. In Ethiopia, they are known by the name “Eqqub.” First, essential background information on ROSCA will be provided, including references to the existing scientific literature. A second section will clarify the methodology used for the empirical research on “Eqqub” in the Tigray Regional State. The third part of the paper presents the actual findings of that investigation on the ground, especially concentrating on legal issues surrounding the governance of “Eqqub.” One of the main conclusions will be that the regulation of informal credit networks in northern Ethiopia is a paramount example of how normative pluralism works in practice, with official and unofficial laws and institutions interacting in subtle ways to order socio-economic reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From a historical point of view, canon lawyers have made a fundamental contribution to the development of legal cultures around the world. Driven by a spiritual desire to build a new legal culture on the ruins of Roman precedents but imbued with Christian values, the canonists' regulatory appetite, especially from the age of Gregorian Reform until after the Council of Trent, has left its mark on all fields of life. Their aim was to create a legal culture sufficiently flexible to account for the complexities of life, but strict enough to avoid disturbance of peace. They wanted to advance a model legal system that could become light for the world and salt of the earth. They succeeded. Three issues on which canonists had something to say to the world will be discussed in this article: mercy and justice; mediation and litigation; and the protection of human rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from fifty citations from primary sources, this article tries to summarize a recent doctoral thesis on the transformation of traditional ius commune contract law in moral theological treatises from the early modern Catholic world. Firstly, it will be shown how theologians borrowed from the Romano-canon legal tradition to develop moral doctrine. Secondly, this contribution will try to demonstrate that the traditional conception of contract was fundamentally changed in the works of the theologians. The conclusion will be that theologians developed a doctrine of contracts which redefined contract on the basis of the autonomy of the will, without remaining insensitive to the political, moral and spiritual context in which the homo viator tried to live a God-pleasing life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from fifty citations from primary sources, this article tries to summarize a recent doctoral thesis on the transformation of traditional ius commune contract law in moral theological treatises from the early modern Catholic world. Firstly, it will be shown how theologians borrowed from the Romano-canon legal tradition to develop moral doctrine. Secondly, this contribution will try to demonstrate that the traditional conception of contract was fundamentally changed in the works of the theologians. The conclusion will be that theologians developed a doctrine of contracts which redefined contract on the basis of the autonomy of the will, without remaining insensitive to the political, moral and spiritual context in which the homo viator tried to live a God-pleasing life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the interconnection between moral theology and legal thought in the work of Adrian of Utrecht (1459-1523). It is shown that early modern Catholic theology as it was practised at the University of Louvain cannot be properly understood without reference to the scholarly disputes in the law faculties. The legal character of practical theology draws on a long tradition that reaches back at least to the late medieval manuals for confessors. The legal nature of Adrian of Utrecht's moral theology, in particular, will be illustrated through an analysis of the sixth among his Quastiones quodlibeticae (1515). In the context of a discussion on the question of whether statutory provisions are binding in conscience, Adrian develops compelling ideas about the use of equity as a tool for the interpretation of laws. He then applies this general theory to the interpretation of the precept of fraternal correction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to highlight the early modern scholastic contribution to dealing with the issue of pre-contractual duties to inform. Bringing together different strands of thought, ranging from Aristotelian philosophy to Roman law, the 16th and 17th century scholastics developed adequate analytical tools to solve legal and moral problems arising from information disparities between contracting parties. While first looking at the different classical and medieval texts that shaped the early modern debate, this paper then goes on to give a systematic account of how the early modern scholastics dealt with duties of disclosure about both intrinsic and extrinsic defects in the merchandise. A final chapter looks at how the early modern scholastic debate was received in the Northern natural law school, before concluding that the early modern scholastics took a surprisingly negative attitude towards duties to inform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes and explains the central role of the principle of contractual liberty with the Jesuits of the early modern period. Designed as a diptych, it intends to clarify how the legal and the moral philosophical tradition mutually enriched each other at the threshold of modernity. The 'ius commune' helped the Jesuits in formulating the idea of negative freedom, only for that 'ius commune' to undergo a transformation itself under the influence of the scientific account of contract law that the Jesuits were to develop on its basis. First it will be shown how the Jesuits arrived at a moral problem-solving method capable of freeing man from unduely burdensome obligations before the court of conscience through the application of the law of property and procedure. Secondly, this paper will highlight the turn towards positive freedom through the Jesuits' elaboration of a general doctrine of contract as a mutually accepted promise centered around the notions of liberty, consensualism, and the image of the will as a private legislator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses several articles in the issue on topics including the relationships among Protestants and Roman Catholics; Catholic and scholastic moral theology; and early-modern Catholic texts.

We provide an overview of the World Amphipoda Database (WAD), a global species database that is part of the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). Launched in 2013, the database contains entries for over 10,500 accepted species names. Edited currently by 31 amphipod taxonomists, following WoRMS priorities, the WAD has at least one editor per major group. All accepted species are checked by the editors, as is the authorship available for all of the names. The higher classification is documented for every species and a type species is recorded for every genus name. This constitutes five of the 13 priorities for completion, set by WoRMS. In 2015, five LifeWatch grants were allocated for WAD activities. These included a general training workshop in 2016, together with data input for the superfamily Lysianassoidea and for a number of non-marine groups. Philanthropy grants in 2019 and 2021 covered more important gaps across the whole group. Further work remains to complete the linking of unaccepted names, original descriptions, and environmental information. Once these tasks are completed, the database will be considered complete for 8 of the 13 priorities, and efforts will continue to input new taxa annually and focus on the remaining priorities, particularly the input of type localities. We give an overview of the current status of the order Amphipoda, providing counts of the number of genera and species within each family belonging to the six suborders currently recognized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of biological and ecological traits has a long history in evolutionary and ecological research. However, trait data are often scattered and standardised terminology that transcends taxonomic and biogeographical context are generally missing. As part of the development of a global trait database of marine species, we collated trait information for European seaweeds and structured the data within the standardised framework of the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). We collected 45 175 trait records for 21 biologically and ecologically relevant traits of seaweeds. This resulted in a trait database for 1745 European seaweed species of which more than half (56 %) of the records were documented at the species level, while the remaining 44 % were documented at a higher taxonomic level and subsequently inherited at lower levels. The trait database for European seaweeds will serve as a foundation for future research on diversity and evolution of seaweeds and their responses to global changes. The data will contribute to developing detailed trait-based ecosystem models and will be an important tool to inform marine conservation policies. The data are publicly accessible through the AlgaeTraits portal, 10.14284/574 (AlgaeTraits, 2022). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2017. WoRMS is a unique database: there is no comparable global database for marine species, which is driven by a large, global expert community, is supported by a Data Management Team and can rely on a permanent host institute, dedicated to keeping WoRMS online. Over the past ten years, the content of WoRMS has grown steadily, and the system currently contains more than 242,000 accepted marine species. WoRMS has not yet reached completeness: approximately 2,000 newly described species per year are added, and editors also enter the remaining missing older names–both accepted and unaccepted–an effort amounting to approximately 20,000 taxon name additions per year. WoRMS is used extensively, through different channels, indicating that it is recognized as a high-quality database on marine species information. It is updated on a daily basis by its Editorial Board, which currently consists of 490 taxonomic and thematic experts located around the world. Owing to its unique qualities, WoRMS has become a partner in many large-scale initiatives including OBIS, LifeWatch and the Catalogue of Life, where it is recognized as a high-quality and reliable source of information for marine taxonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of biological and ecological traits has a long history in evolutionary and ecological research. However, trait data are often scattered and standardised terminology that transcends taxonomic and biogeographical context are generally missing. As part of the development of a global trait database of marine species, we collated trait information for European seaweeds and structured the data within the standardised framework of the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). We collected 45,175 records for 21 biologically and ecologically relevant traits of seaweeds. This resulted in a trait database for 1,745 European seaweed species of which more than half (56%) of the records were documented at the species level, while the remaining 44% was documented at a higher taxonomic level and subsequently inherited at lower levels. The trait database for European seaweeds will serve as a foundation for future research on diversity and evolution of seaweeds, and their responses to global changes. The data will contribute to developing detailed trait-based ecosystem models, and will be an important tool to inform marine conservation policies. The data is publicly accessible through the AlgaeTraits portal, algaetraits.org, doi: https://doi.org/10.14284/574, (AlgaeTraits, 2022). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The World Register of Marine Species is an over 90% complete open-access inventory of all marine species names. Here we illustrate the scale of the problems with species names, synonyms, and their classification, and describe how WoRMS publishes online quality assured information on marine species. Within WoRMS, over 100 global, 12 regional and 4 thematic species databases are integrated with a common taxonomy. Over 240 editors from 133 institutions and 31 countries manage the content. To avoid duplication of effort, content is exchanged with 10 external databases. At present WoRMS contains 460,000 taxonomic names (from Kingdom to subspecies), 368,000 species level combinations of which 215,000 are currently accepted marine species names, and 26,000 related but non-marine species. Associated information includes 150,000 literature sources, 20,000 images, and locations of 44,000 specimens. Usage has grown linearly since its launch in 2007, with about 600,000 unique visitors to the website in 2011, and at least 90 organisations from 12 countries using WoRMS for their data management. By providing easy access to expert-validated content, WoRMS improves quality control in the use of species names, with consequent benefits to taxonomy, ecology, conservation and marine biodiversity research and management. The service manages information on species names that would otherwise be overly costly for individuals, and thus minimises errors in the application of nomenclature standards. WoRMS' content is expanding to include host-parasite relationships, additional literature sources, locations of specimens, images, distribution range, ecological, and biological data. Species are being categorised as introduced (alien, invasive), of conservation importance, and on other attributes. These developments have a multiplier effect on its potential as a resource for biodiversity research and management. As a consequence of WoRMS, we are witnessing improved communication within the scientific community, and anticipate increased taxonomic efficiency and quality control in marine biodiversity research and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]