Source: http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/instree/1880a.htm
Timestamp: 2018-09-18 20:57:33
Document Index: 314814137

Matched Legal Cases: ['Art. 2', 'Art. 6', 'Art. 34', 'Art. 45', 'Art. 58', 'Art. 69', 'Art. 79']

The Laws of War on Land, Manual published by the Institute of International Law (Oxford Mnaual), Adopted by the Instutute of International Law at Oxford, September 9, 1880.
Rash and extreme rules will not, furthermore, be found therein. The Institute has not sought innovations in drawing up the ' Manual '; it has contented itself with stating clearly and codifying the accepted ideas of our age so far as this has appeared allowable and practicable. By so doing, it believes it is rendering a service to military men themselves. In fact so long as the demands of opinion remain indeterminate, belligerents are exposed to painful uncertainty and to endless accusations. A positive set of rules, on the contrary, if they are judicious, serves the interests of belligerents and is far from hindering them, since by preventing the unchaining of passion and savage instincts -- which battle always awakens, as much as it awakens courage and manly virtues, -- it strengthens the discipline which is the strength of armies; it also ennobles their patriotic mission in the eyes of the soldiers by keeping them within the limits of respect due to the rights of humanity.
But in order to attain this end it is not sufficient for sovereigns to promulgate new laws. It is essential, too, that they make these laws known among all people, so that when a war is declared, the men called upon to take up arms to defend the causes of the belligerent States, may be thoroughly impregnated with the special rights and duties attached to the execution of such a command. The Institute, with a view to assisting the authorities in accomplishing this part of their task, has given its work a popular form, attaching thereto statements of the reasons therefor, from which the text of a law may be easily secured when desired.
PART I : GENERAL PRINCIPLES
This rule implies a distinction between the individuals who compose the "armed force" of a State and its other ' ressortissants '. A definition of the term "armed force" is, therefore, necessary.
Art. 2. The armed force of a State includes: 1. The army properly so called, including the militia;
2. The national guards, landsturm, free corps, and other bodies which fulfil the three following conditions: (a) That they are under the direction of a responsible chief;
(b) That they must have a uniform, or a fixed distinctive emblem recognizable at a distance, and worn by individuals composing such corps; (c) That they carry arms openly;
3. The crews of men-of-war and other military boats; 4. The inhabitants of non-occupied territory, who, on the approach of the enemy, take up arms spontaneously and openly to resist the invading troops, even if they have not had time to organize themselves.
The only legitimate end that States may have in war being to weaken the military strength of the enemy ' (Declaration of St. Petersburg, 1868), '
Art. 6. No invaded territory is regarded as conquered until the end of the war; until that time the occupant exercises, in such territory, only a de facto power, essentially provisional in character.
PART II : APPLICATION OF GENERAL PRINCIPLES
I. HOSTILITIES
The contest being carried on by "armed forces" only (Article 1),
As the struggle must be honourable (Article 4),
(a) To make use of poison, in any form whatever; (b) To make treacherous attempts upon the life of an enemy; as, for example, by keeping assassins in pay or by feigning to surrender;
As needless severity should be avoided (Article 4),
(a) To employ arms, projectiles, or materials of any kind calculated to cause superfluous suffering, or to aggravate wounds - notably projectiles of less weight than four hundred grams which are explosive or are charged with fulminating or inflammable substances (Declaration of St. Petersburg);
The following provisions (Articles 10 to 18), drawn from the ' Geneva Convention, ' exempt the sick and wounded, and the personnel of the sanitary service, from many of the needless hardships to which they were formerly exposed:
[See article 24]
In order to avoid the abuses to which accusations of espionage too often give rise in war it is important to assert emphatically that
Moreover, it is admitted that
[See article 26]
The necessity of this prerogative is evident. It is moreover, frequently exercised in the interest of humanity.
But it must not be injurious to the adverse party. This is why
[See article 30]
The parlementaire and those who accompany him should behave fairly towards the enemy receiving them (Article 4).
Certain precautions are made necessary by the rule that a belligerent must abstain from useless severity (Article 4). In accordance with this principle
(a) To pillage, even towns taken by assault; (b) To destroy public or private property, if this destruction is not demanded by an imperative necessity of war;
If it is incontestable that belligerents have the right to resort to bombardment against fortresses and other places in which the enemy is intrenched, considerations of humanity require that this means of coercion be surrounded with certain modifying influences which will restrict as far as possible the effects to the hostile armed force and its means of defense. This is why
Art. 34. In case of bombardment all necessary steps must be taken to spare, if it can be done, buildings dedicated to religion, art, science and charitable purposes, hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are gathered on the condition that they are not being utilized at the time, directly or indirectly, for defense. It is the duty of the besieged to indicate the presence of such buildings by visible signs notified to the assailant beforehand.
The arrangements for the relief of the wounded, which are made the subject of Articles 10 et seq., would be inadequate were not sanitary establishments also granted special protection. Hence, in accordance with the ' Geneva Convention, '
[See article 37]
In consideration of the new relations which arise from the provisional change of government (Article 6),
[See article 44]
Art. 45. The civil functionaries and employees of every class who consent to continue to perform their duties are under the protection of the occupant. They may always be dismissed, and they always have the right to resign their places.
As occupation does not entail upon the inhabitants a change of nationality,
[See article 49]
Although the occupant replaces the enemy State in the government of the invaded territory, his power is not absolute. So long as the fate of this territory remains in suspense -- that is, until peace -- the occupant is not free to dispose of what still belongs to the enemy and is not of use in military operation. Hence the following rules:
If the powers of the occupant are limited with respect to the property of the enemy State, with greater reason are they limited with respect to the property of individuals.
Art. 58. The occupant cannot collect extraordinary contributions of money, save as an equivalent for fines, or imposts not paid, or for payments not made in kind. Contributions in money can be imposed only on the order and responsibility of the general in chief, or of the superior civil authority established in the occupied territory, as far as possible, in accordance with the rules of assessment and incidence of the taxes in force.
The confinement of prisoners of war is not in the nature of a penalty for crime (Article 21): neither is it an act of vengeance. It is a temporary detention only, entirely without penal character.
In the following provisions, therefore, regard has been had to the consideration due them as prisoners, and to the necessity of their secure detention.
Art. 69. The government into whose hands prisoners have fallen is charged with their maintenance. In the absence of an agreement on this point between the belligerent parties, prisoners are treated, as regards food and clothing, on the same peace footing as the troops of the government which captured them.
The reasons justifying detention of the captured enemy exist only during the continuance of the war.
Before that time, and by virtue of the ' Geneva Convention, '
Even without exchange
It is universally admitted that a neutral State cannot, without compromising its neutrality, lend aid to either belligerent, or permit them to make use of its territory. On the other hand, considerations of humanity dictate that asylum should not be refused to individuals who take refuge in neutral territory to escape death or captivity. Hence the following provisions, calculated to reconcile the opposing interests involved.
Art. 79. A neutral State on whose territory troops or individuals belonging to the armed forces of the belligerents take refuge should intern them, as far as possible, at a distance from the theatre of war. It should do the same towards those who make use of its territory for military operations or services.
PART III : PENAL SANCTION
If any of the foregoing rules be violated, the offending parties should be punished, after a judicial hearing, by the belligerent in whose hands they are. Therefore
This mode of repression, however, is only applicable when the person of the offender can be secured. In the contrary case, the criminal law is powerless, and, if the injured party deem the misdeed so serious in character as to make it necessary to recall the enemy to a respect for law, no other recourse than a resort to reprisals remains.
Reprisals are an exception to the general rule of equity, that an innocent person ought not to suffer for the guilty. They are also at variance with the rule that each belligerent should conform to the rules of war, without reciprocity on the part of the enemy. This necessary rigour, however, is modified to some extent by the following restrictions:
[See article 85]