Cicero posits that human beings must leap from such a primordial condition into a civilized world where language is shared. In order to understand why Cicero exempts such societies from the protection of the jus gentium,I argue, Cicero's theory depends on a primordial condition where human beings, living an animal-like existence, lack a language and reason. ![]() I document examples of the sort of society so exempted. I find a problem, however, in that Cicero exempts certain types of society from the guidance and protection of the jus gentium. Instead, jus gentium dwelt in an intermediate position between posited state laws and the laws of nature. Cicero's theory of jus gentium, I argue, was neither a positivist theory nor a natural law theory. Cicero was the first jurist known to recognize and elaborate a theory of the international community and this through his concept of jus gentium. After setting out the importance of the notion of an international community in contemporary treaties, International Court of Justice judgments and opinio juris, this paper claims that we need to turn to Cicero's works in order to appreciate a sense of what an international community is.
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