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Military, War, and Peace

University of Michigan Law School

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Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Law

Targeting And The Concept Of Intent, Jens David Ohlin Jan 2013

Targeting And The Concept Of Intent, Jens David Ohlin

Michigan Journal of International Law

International law generally prohibits military forces from intentionally targeting civilians; this is the principle of distinction. In contrast, unintended collateral damage is permissible unless the anticipated civilian deaths outweigh the expected military advantage of the strike; this is the principle of proportionality. These cardinal targeting rules of international humanitarian law are generally assumed by military lawyers to be relatively well-settled. However, recent international tribunals applying this law in a string of little-noticed decisions have completely upended this understanding. Armed with criminal law principles from their own domestic systems — often civil law jurisdictions — prosecutors, judges and even scholars have …


The Use Of Force Against States That Might Have Weapons Of Mass Destruction, Matthew C. Waxman Jan 2009

The Use Of Force Against States That Might Have Weapons Of Mass Destruction, Matthew C. Waxman

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article argues that the most difficult future crises for which this legal debate is most consequential will not resemble those described by Prime Minister Thatcher or Director ElBaradei. Rather, in confronting potentially hostile and aggressive states believed to pose a WMD threat, decisionmakers contemplating the use of force will face an intelligence picture that is open to reasonable debate (contra Thatcher) and irresolvable to high levels of certainty (contra ElBaradei). This paper examines how competing legal approaches deal with this epistemic problem.


Rescue And The War Story, William I. Miller Jan 2001

Rescue And The War Story, William I. Miller

Articles

It is precisely in the domain of rescue that twentieth-century battle has made its peculiar addition to the styles of the heroic.


Renegotiation Of War Contracts, Charles W. Steadman Aug 1943

Renegotiation Of War Contracts, Charles W. Steadman

Michigan Law Review

The limitation of war profits to fair and reasonable levels and the purchase of war goods at fair prices are essential to the successful prosecution of the war. These problems come as a part of war and must be solved just as surely as tactical problems in battle. Exorbitant profits and prices spell defeat to any nation, for they point the way to inflation and economic collapse. In modern war the difference between defeat and victory lies ultimately in the economic strength of the countries involved. The lessons of history have shown us that no nation can achieve and maintain …