Leonardus Lessius (1554–1623), one of the fathers of modern private law, was a master of scholastic economic analysis. While teaching theology at the Jesuit College in Louvain, Lessius earned a reputation as the Oracle of the Netherlands among the jurists, businessmen, and political rulers of his day. Through his work, the Spanish scholastic tradition was transmitted to Protestant natural-law scholars such as Hugo Grotius.
