Law of war

Law by treaty

In ancient times war was not subject to any control other than that exercised by the combatants themselves, and any limitations that they might have placed on their own actions on the battlefield would have been due to military necessity rather than any belief that to attack civilians or to kill prisoners of war was wrong—let alone illegal. The Viking invaders in the 11th century, for instance, knew no concept of sparing the civilian population from attack or pillage, and they did not generally protect and release captured enemy combatants. And there was no reason why they should: no treaties prohibiting brutal acts in battle had been negotiated between states, nor had there developed a uniform practice among states that considered themselves civilized to avoid such conduct. In order for such norms to develop, there had to come into existence a belief shared by a number of independent states that some limits should be placed on the methods and means of war among themselves—especially if wars were to be fought between Christian states. (Crusades against the infidel were not controlled by any similar concern.) In the Middle Ages in Europe the precepts of Christianity began to provide vague guidelines of conduct on the battlefield. In 1625 Hugo Grotius wrote On the Law of War and Peace (De Jure Belli ac Pacis), in which he explored the basic principles of the humanitarian treatment of the victims of war.

If civilians were to enjoy any protection, it would also become necessary clearly to distinguish them from the combatants. This could come only with the development of a professional army wearing a distinctive uniform and taking upon itself a code of chivalry. Certain actions would then become unchivalrous and would lead to heavy sanction from brother soldiers. Chivalry, however, did not protect the common soldier or the ordinary civilian, for whom notions of chivalry were considered inappropriate. Protection by rule of law for the lower orders had to await the acceptance of principles of humanity that took a distinctive form in the 19th century.

Britannica Quiz

World Wars

Until the 20th century there existed no principle of international law that limited the right of states to go to war. War was seen as an integral part of state sovereignty to be entered into for political reasons. There were, however, attempts to distinguish wars that were considered “just” from those which were “unjust.” This was a Christian doctrine formulated by, among others, St. Augustine, but it was an extremely flexible one, enabling a state to describe its war as just at its own discretion. As a corollary, the enemy state would therefore be fighting an unjust war, and its soldiers could be treated in any manner by the state claiming to be fighting a just war. It was more than likely that all states involved in a single conflict would claim to be fighting for a just cause and would show an attendant lack of concern for the protection of those unable, through wounds or capture, to defend themselves.

The development of modern weapons that could cause unnecessary suffering to combatants, and the great strides made in battlefield medical care, led to a growing awareness that international cooperation was required to protect the wounded and sick. Henri Dunant, a Swiss citizen and founder of the Red Cross, was preeminent in leading a number of states to conclude the first Geneva Convention in 1864 to protect the wounded and sick. But the first attempt to codify the laws of war was drafted by Francis Lieber, a college professor in New York City. Promulgated to Union forces by President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War, the Lieber code was to have a profound effect on subsequent codifications of the laws of war. In 1868 the Declaration of St. Petersburg prohibited the use of explosive projectiles weighing less than 400 grams, while in 1899 two major treaties were concluded at The Hague, one concerning asphyxiating gases and another concerned with expanding bullets. The second Hague conference, in 1907, proved to be a milestone, producing 13 separate treaties. In 1925 the Geneva Gas Protocol was signed, prohibiting the use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous, or other gases and of bacteriological methods of warfare. This was followed in 1929 by two further Geneva Conventions, dealing with the wounded and sick and with prisoners of war. Following World War II yet another conference produced the four 1949 Geneva Conventions dealing, respectively, with the wounded and sick on land, with the wounded, sick, and shipwrecked at sea, with prisoners of war, and with civilians. Further treaties followed, including the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property, the 1977 United Nations Convention on Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques, and the two 1977 Protocols to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, extending the terms of the conventions to wars of national liberation and civil wars.

Explore Britannica Premium!

The trusted destination for professionals, college students, and lifelong learners.

SUBSCRIBE

Law by custom

The laws of war are to be found not only in treaties entered into by states but also in customary international law, which is found in the actual practice of states and in the belief (called opinio juris: “opinion of the law”) that that practice is in conformity with international law. Much of this customary international law has found its way into the various conventions described above. Therefore, it may properly be argued that, although a particular state is not a party to a certain treaty, it is nevertheless bound by the principle of customary international law codified in that treaty. Further, a treaty may have such wide acceptance that it can be said to reflect the practice of all states, and it may then bind all states as reflecting customary international law. As an example of this approach, the International Military Tribunal at Nürnberg in 1946 decided that the fourth Hague Convention of 1907, concerning the laws and customs of war on land, reflected customary international law; hence, its principles bound Germany even though some states, which were at war with Germany, were not parties to it.

Some areas of the laws of war are not covered by treaty provisions, making it necessary to turn to other sources of international law. However, it may be that a particular point has never arisen before. In this case the Martens Clause, which first appeared in one of the 1899 Hague Conventions (and has been repeated in virtually every major treaty since), avoids any lacuna in the law by providing the following:

Until a more complete code of the laws of war has been issued, the High Contracting Parties deem it expedient to declare that, in cases not included in the Regulations adopted by them, the inhabitants and the belligerents remain under the protection and the rule of the principles of the law of nations, as they result from the usages established among civilized peoples, from the laws of humanity, and the dictates of public conscience.

Judicial decisions are also a source of the international laws of war. The International Military Tribunals at Nürnberg and Tokyo following World War II laid down many general principles that became widely accepted, but, in fact, following that conflict a large number of other tribunals were conducted by individual states to try those charged with war crimes. In addition, a Japanese court, in the case of Shimoda v. Japan (1955), dealt with the legality in international law of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.