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Full-Text Articles in Legal History
The Laws Of War In The Pre-Dawn Light: Institutions And Obligations In Thucydides’ Peloponnesian War, Steve Sheppard
The Laws Of War In The Pre-Dawn Light: Institutions And Obligations In Thucydides’ Peloponnesian War, Steve Sheppard
Steve Sheppard
This Essay, in honor of Oscar Schachter, discusses Thucydides’ account of the Peloponnesian War, not only glimpsing into the events surrounding the conflict but also considering how the sparring greek city-states understood and manifested laws of war. This article describes numerous customs, practices, and procedures including respect for truces, ambassadors, heralds, trophies, and various forms of neutrality the ancients adhered to during times of conflict. The greek city-states and their warriors recognized and enforced obligations concerning a city-state’s right to war (jus ad bellum) and conduct in war (jus in bello). While the ancients’ laws of war were always recorded …
Passion And Nation: War, Crime, And Guilt In The Individual And The Collective, Steve Sheppard
Passion And Nation: War, Crime, And Guilt In The Individual And The Collective, Steve Sheppard
Steve Sheppard
Riffing off of George Fletcher's theory of Romanticism and war, the article reviews Fletcher's arguments, which received derisive reviews during the War against Iraq in 2003. The article takes Fletcher's approach seriously in considering the problem of war as a Romantic impulse, and the difficulties caused by that understanding. The article then derives arguments on the limits of the laws of war to apply to military actions against terrorism. The article considers the nature of collective guilt as a mitigating element in the crimes of one individual, and it considers the nature of non-state enemies in war. This last point …