Georgetown Law

Welcome, President Peñalver!

Today, we welcome Eduardo Peñalver to the Hilltop on his first day as Georgetown’s 49th president.

Learn more about President Peñalver and read his welcome message to the Hoya community: https://bit.ly/4wlvrYc

Georgetown Law Dean Emeritus William Treanor is featured in The American Experiment, a five-part Netflix documentary series reexamining the nation's founding as the United States approaches its 250th anniversary.

Alongside historians, legal scholars, former vice presidents and Supreme Court justices, Treanor joins a conversation about the question at the heart of the American Revolution: Can a people govern themselves? Stream all five parts now on Netflix: https://bit.ly/4g0gPIV

Hugo Grotius, known as the "father of international law," wrote his most influential work from prison and published it after escaping hidden in a chest of books.

The 17th century Dutch diplomat laid the groundwork for modern international law. In "On the Law of War and Peace," he argued that binding rules must govern how nations conduct war and identified three just causes for armed conflict: self-defense, reparation of injury and punishment. Those ideas became the foundation of international humanitarian law as we know it.

His earlier work, "The Free Seas," argued in 1609 that the oceans are international territory open to all nations, a principle that still holds today.

The Georgetown Law Library Special Collections holds six early editions of his work dating from 1626 to 1712 in both Latin and English. One edition is even printed in a rare "duodecimo" format, just 11.5 by 6 centimeters, small enough to fit in a coat pocket.

Read more on pg. 45 of our Spring 2026 Magazine: https://bit.ly/4opnH4E