 In February 1603 the seizing of 1500-ton loaded Portuguese "Santa Catarina" by the Dutch East India Company led to scandal with a public judicial hearing and a campaign to sway public (and international) opinion.The representatives of the Company then called Hugo Grotius, a jurist of the Dutch Republic, to draft a defence of the seizure.In 1609 Hugo Grotius sought to ground his defense of the seizure in terms of the natural principles of justice; Grotius formulated a new principle that the sea was international territory and all nations were free to use it for seafaring trade.