_Trade with the East Indies does not belong to the Portuguese by
virtue of title based on the Papal Donation_
No one has granted it except perhaps the Pope, and he did not have
the power.[163] For no one can give away what he does not himself
possess. But the Pope, unless he were the temporal master of the
whole world, which sensible men deny, cannot say that the universal
right in respect of trade belongs to him. Especially is this true
since trade has to do only with material gains, and has no concern
at all with spiritual matters, outside of which, as all admit, Papal
power ceases. Besides, if the Pope wished to give that right to the
Portuguese alone, and to deprive all other men of the same right,
he would be doing a double injustice. In the first place, he would
do an injustice to the people of the East Indies who, placed as we
have said outside the Church, are in no way subjects of the Pope.
Therefore, since the Pope cannot take away from them anything that is
theirs, he could not take away their right of trading with whomsoever
they please. In the second place, he would do an injustice to all
other men both Christian and non-Christian, from whom he could not
take that same right without a hearing. Besides, what are we to say
of the fact that not even temporal lords in their own dominions are
competent to prohibit the freedom of trade, as has been demonstrated
above by reasonable and authoritative statements?
Therefore it must be acknowledged, that the authority of the Pope has
absolutely no force against the eternal law of nature and of nations,
from whence came that liberty which is destined to endure for ever
and ever.
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CAPVT XI
_Mercaturam cum Indis non esse Lusitanorum propriam iure
praescriptionis aut consuetudinis_
Restat praescriptio, seu consuetudinem mavis dicere.[164a] Sed
nec huius nec illius vim esse aliquam inter liberas nationes, aut
diversarum gentium Principes, nec adversus ea quae primigenio iure
introducta sunt, cum Vasquio ostendimus. Quare et hic ut ius mercandi
proprium fiat, quod proprietatis naturam non recipit, nullo tempore
efficitur. Itaque nec titulus hic adfuisse potest, nec bona fides,
quae cum manifesto desinit, praescriptio secundum Canones non ius
dicetur, sed iniuria.
Quin et ipsa mercandi quasi possessio non ex iure proprio contigisse
videtur, sed ex iure communi quod ad omnes aequaliter pertinet; sicut
contra, quod aliae nationes cum Indis contrahere forte neglexerunt,
id non Lusitanorum gratia fecisse existimandi sunt, sed quia sibi
expedire crediderunt; quod nihil obstat quo minus ubi suaserit
utilitas, id facere possint, quod antea non fecerint. Certissima enim
illa regula a doctoribus traditur,[165a] in his quae sunt arbitrii
seu merae facultatis, ita ut per se actum tantum facultatis eius,
non autem ius novum operentur, nec praescriptionis nec consuetudinis
titulo annos etiam mille valituros: quod et
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