The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1919-01-23
WHAT TWO EMINENT JURlSIS
REPORTED TO WAMENCEAU.
From the Stand
point of Law
State William HohenzOllern Can be
Held Responsible for Ger
many's Crimes.

on the real responsibility of the form
er German Emperor. were made pub
lie today. The report was drawn up
by Ferdinand L%arnaude, dean of the
Paris law faculty. and DR.. A. G. De
Lapradelle,. professor of rights of ma
tons in the same faculty.
The object of the inquiry was to
investigate from a purely judicial
point of view if the crimes committed
by the German Government and ar
my involved the penal responsibility
of the former German Emperor, what
tribunal should judge him and wheth-
er his e%xtradition could be demanded.
The authors of the report give a
long argument against bringing the
ex-Emperor before a tribunal of COM
mon law, because his will command
ed but his hand did not execute. They
a that he was not principal offender
and therefore he could only be pun
ished as an accomplish. An interna-
tional tribunal consequently must be
found. They consider The Hague arbl-
tration court founded at the 1899
conference incompetent to try him,
as the court was meant for cases
where no penalty is to be applied.
They argue that An entirely new
jurisdiction be created, which should
be the first instrument of a league of
/. nations in which should appear ex-
clusively the States which fought
Germany. 10;
The two French jurists prove that
the extradition of the former German
ruler can not be refused as he is not
a political refugee. The report says:
"It is anti-juridicial to assimilate
war with conspiracy. Crimes of war
are crimes of public law and inter-
national law, not political crimes
The authors of the report COM
mence by establishing that ma penal
ty is possible against a nation any
more than against company but that
the manager or director of a COM
pany can be punished. b.
H%ohenzoIleru Guilty.
The Emperor in the first place.
says the report, "as King of Prussia
is president of the confederation by
virtue of a special law in which hui
man will does not enter. The Ger
man sovereignty depends only on
God and the sword. With such a
conception of power it would be- un-
juridicial to the highest degree to
allow the Emperor to escape respon-
sibility for his actions; his response
bility for the war for which, under
the Constitution, the decision belong
ed to him alone; his responsibility for
the war for violation of Belgian neu-
trality, which was willed by him,
his responsibility for acts of terro-
rism by his troops, which he willed
and ordered"
Fire and Blood.
The report quotes a letter from
the former Emperor to the Emperor
of Austria in the early days of the
war in which the German Emperor
wrote:
"'My soul is torn asunder, but ev-
erything must be put to fire and
blood. The threats of men and wo-
men, children and the aged must be
cut and not a tree nor a house left
standing.
with such methods of terror
which alone can strike so degenerate
a people as the French, the war will
finish before two months, while if I
use humanitarian methods it may
prolong for years. Despite all my
repugnance l have had to choose the
first system"
Uses Words II" and my"
The words 81" and "my" in the
letter are italicized in the report.
Modern law. the report con-
tinue9 "does not recognize irrespon-
sible authorities, wen at the summit
of hierarchy. 1t brings a state down
from it's pedestal and makes it submit
to the rule IF the Judge.
"There can therefore be no ques-
ton of saving from the judge a mar
who is at the summit of hierarchy.
Either by the application of interna-
tional law"
"Say 1t With Cake"