CRUC, MERIC

born c. 1590 died 1648 French writer, perhaps a monk, pioneer advocate of international arbitration. Cruc's principal work, Le Nouveau Cyne (1623; The New Cyneas of meric Cruc, 1909), in which he represented himself in the peacemaking role of Cineas at the court of King Pyrrhus (319272 BC) of the Molossians, called for a permanent assembly of princes or their delegates to arbitrate international disputes. As envisioned by Cruc, such a body would rely on moral pressure, employing sanctions only rarely, to enforce settlements. It would include the nations of Asia and Africa as well as those of Europe. Cruc was also an early proponent of free trade.