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Full-Text Articles in Law
Booty, Bounty, Blockade, And Prize: Time To Reevaluate The Law, Andrew Clapham
Booty, Bounty, Blockade, And Prize: Time To Reevaluate The Law, Andrew Clapham
International Law Studies
This article considers the so-called belligerent rights of States in times of war. In particular it focuses on booty of war, blockade, and the capture of merchant ships and their cargo. It is suggested that, while the rules may not often be applied today, they nevertheless continue to exert a certain influence, contributing to confusion about the boundaries of the legitimate use of force and a blurring of the distinction between military objectives and civilian objects.
Considering that the UN Charter has outlawed the use of force, the article also questions why such rules concerning capture should continue to have …
Legal Reviews Of War Algorithms, Tobias Vestner, Altea Rossi
Legal Reviews Of War Algorithms, Tobias Vestner, Altea Rossi
International Law Studies
States and scholars recognize legal reviews of weapons, means or methods of warfare as an essential tool to ensure the legality of military applications of artificial intelligence (AI). Yet, are existing practices fit for this task? This article identifies necessary adaptations to current practices. For AI-enabled systems that are used in relation to targeting, legal reviews need to assess the systems’ compliance with additional rules of international law, in particular targeting law under international humanitarian law (IHL). This article discusses the procedural ramifications thereof. The article further finds that AI systems’ predictability problem needs to be addressed by the technical …
Ukraine V. The Russian Federation: Navigating Conflict Over Sovereignty Under Unclos, NilüFer Oral
Ukraine V. The Russian Federation: Navigating Conflict Over Sovereignty Under Unclos, NilüFer Oral
International Law Studies
Following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, or according to Russia, its accession following a referendum, Ukraine brought several international cases against the Russian Federation, including two cases under Annex VII of UNCLOS: The Dispute Concerning Coastal State Rights in the Black Sea, Sea of Azov, and Kerch Strait in 2016 and The Detention of Three Ukrainian Naval Vessels in 2019. At the center of these disputes is the conflict between Ukraine and Russia over sovereignty of Crimea. Russia contested jurisdiction in all cases invoking different exceptions under UNCLOS, including the argument that the dispute concerns sovereignty over Crimea and …
Encirclement, Deprivation, And Humanity: Revising The San Remo Manual Provisions On Blockade, Tom Dannenbaum
Encirclement, Deprivation, And Humanity: Revising The San Remo Manual Provisions On Blockade, Tom Dannenbaum
International Law Studies
Among the most pernicious trends in contemporary armed conflict is the return of mass starvation in war, in some cases as its primary source of human suffering. This has prompted a renewed focus on the relevant rules of international humanitarian law (IHL). On some issues, there is relative consensus. On the issue of deprivation by encirclement, however, there is confusion.
Some have questioned whether the prohibition on the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare applies to encirclements at all, particularly in the naval context. Others have interpreted the prohibition vanishingly narrowly. In contrast to the more extreme of …
The Legal Characterization Of Lethal Autonomous Maritime Systems: Warship, Torpedo, Or Naval Mine?, Hitoshi Nasu, David Letts
The Legal Characterization Of Lethal Autonomous Maritime Systems: Warship, Torpedo, Or Naval Mine?, Hitoshi Nasu, David Letts
International Law Studies
With the rapid advances in autonomous navigation and artificial intelligence technology, naval industries are edging closer to the development of unmanned maritime platforms with lethal autonomous capability—lethal autonomous maritime systems (LAMS). The emergence of LAMS as a sui generis hybrid weapon system will almost certainly generate disagreement on their legal status. Currently, there is no agreement among States as to whether LAMS should legally be characterized as warships or other means of warfare, such as torpedoes and naval mines. This lack of certainty represents a significant deficiency with potential strategic and operational implications if left unresolved. To assist States in …
The Occupation Of Maritime Territory Under International Humanitarian Law, Marco Longobardo
The Occupation Of Maritime Territory Under International Humanitarian Law, Marco Longobardo
International Law Studies
This article explores whether it is possible to apply the law of occupation beyond land territory, to maritime areas characterized here as “maritime territory.” The article argues that the definition of territory under Article 42 of the 1907 Hague Regulations comprises internal waters, territorial sea, and archipelagic waters, whereas other areas such as the continental shelf, the exclusive economic zone, and high seas fall outside the scope of Article 42. Accordingly, internal waters, the territorial sea, and archipelagic waters may be placed under occupation if a hostile force exercises actual authority over them without valid legal title. The article describes …
Can We Starve The Civilians? Exploring The Dichotomy Between The Traditional Law Of Maritime Blockade And Humanitarian Initiatives, Phillip J. Drew
Can We Starve The Civilians? Exploring The Dichotomy Between The Traditional Law Of Maritime Blockade And Humanitarian Initiatives, Phillip J. Drew
International Law Studies
The contemporary practice of maritime blockade can trace its origins to the Dutch Placaat of 1564, under which the Dutch Navy enforced the closure of Spanish ports to maritime traffic, both inbound and outbound. Although originally designed to stop all military reinforcements from reaching an area, in the ensuing 450 years, blockade has developed into a method of warfare whose effects are primarily economic. As a result of the urbanization of much of the world’s population over the past 200 years, many States have become heavily reliant on imported foodstuffs and commodities, most of which moves by sea. When those …
Belligerent Obligations Under Article 18(1) Of The Second Geneva Convention: The Impact Of Sovereign Immunity, Booty Of War, And The Obligation To Respect And Protect War Graves, Wolff Heintschel Von Heinegg
Belligerent Obligations Under Article 18(1) Of The Second Geneva Convention: The Impact Of Sovereign Immunity, Booty Of War, And The Obligation To Respect And Protect War Graves, Wolff Heintschel Von Heinegg
International Law Studies
Article 18(1) of the Second Geneva Convention requires parties to an international armed conflict, “after each engagement” and “without delay,” to “take all possible measures to search for and collect the wounded and sick, to protect them against pillage and ill-treatment, to ensure their adequate care, and to search for the dead and prevent their being despoiled.” This article focuses on the latter obligation: the duty to search for and collect the dead. It assesses this obligation in light of the International Committee of the Red Cross 2017 Commentary on the Second Geneva Convention, the first such commentary completed by …
The Updated Icrc Commentary On The Second Geneva Convention: Demystifying The Law Of Armed Conflict At Sea, Bruno Demeyere, Jean-Marie Henckaerts, Heleen Hiemstra, Ellen Nohle
The Updated Icrc Commentary On The Second Geneva Convention: Demystifying The Law Of Armed Conflict At Sea, Bruno Demeyere, Jean-Marie Henckaerts, Heleen Hiemstra, Ellen Nohle
International Law Studies
Since their publication in the 1950s and 1980s respectively, the Commentaries on the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 have become a major reference for the application and interpretation of those treaties. The International Committee of the Red Cross, together with a team of renowned experts, is currently updating these Commentaries in order to document developments and provide up-to-date interpretations of the treaty texts. Following a brief overview of the methodology and process of the update as well as a historical background to the Second Geneva Convention, this article addresses the scope of applicability of the …
Duty To Render Assistance To Mariners In Distress During Armed Conflict At Sea: A U.S. Perspective, Raul (Pete) Pedrozo
Duty To Render Assistance To Mariners In Distress During Armed Conflict At Sea: A U.S. Perspective, Raul (Pete) Pedrozo
International Law Studies
In 2017, the International Committee of the Red Cross published an updated Commentary on the Second Geneva Convention. One question left unanswered by the new Commentary is the relationship between international humanitarian law and other international treaties applicable to the maritime domain, such as the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and treaties adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The Second Geneva Convention establishes a legal framework for the humane treatment and protection of victims of armed conflict at sea—the wounded, sick and shipwrecked. There are circumstances, however, in which the belligerents do not have the …
Combat Losses Of Nuclear-Powered Warships: Contamination, Collateral Damage And The Law, Akira Mayama
Combat Losses Of Nuclear-Powered Warships: Contamination, Collateral Damage And The Law, Akira Mayama
International Law Studies
There have been non-combat losses of nuclear-powered warships during sea trials and peacetime patrol missions. Nuclear contamination is spreading from some of these sinking sites. It is also conceivable that combat losses of nuclear-powered warships could cause contamination of civilians, civilian objects and the natural environment. If such combat losses occur at sea, both belligerent and neutral States will have to deal with a difficult question: to what extent and by who can harm resulting from such contamination be compensated for payment of damages. This article examines legal issues stemming from prospective combat losses of nuclear-powered warships from the perspectives …
Exclusion Zones In The Law Of Armed Conflict At Sea: Evolution In Law And Practice, Sandesh Sivakumaran
Exclusion Zones In The Law Of Armed Conflict At Sea: Evolution In Law And Practice, Sandesh Sivakumaran
International Law Studies
This article analyses the changes in the law and practice of exclusion zones in the law of armed conflict at sea. It identifies three principal phases. First, it explores the exclusion zones of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, which were modest in size and defensive in character. Second, it turns to the exclusion zones of the First World War and several subsequent conflicts. The exclusion zones of this period were fundamentally different to those of the Russo-Japanese war: if a vessel was within an exclusion zone, it was deemed susceptible to attack. The article then turns to the third phase …
Emerging Technology And Perfidy In Armed Conflict, Ian Henderson, Jordan Den Dulk, Angeline Lewis
Emerging Technology And Perfidy In Armed Conflict, Ian Henderson, Jordan Den Dulk, Angeline Lewis
International Law Studies
The rule against perfidy in armed conflict—one of the last echoes of honor and social order of war—is threatened by emerging technologies. Specifically, the employment of emerging technologies has muddied the already thin and grey line between acts which contravene the honor of warfare and legitimate ruses of war. In this article, the authors analyze perfidy, treachery and ruses of war as key concepts of international humanitarian law and consider their application to emerging technologies.
The Law Of Naval Warfare And China’S Maritime Militia, James Kraska, Michael Monti
The Law Of Naval Warfare And China’S Maritime Militia, James Kraska, Michael Monti
International Law Studies
China operates a vast network of fishing vessels that form a maritime militia equipped and trained to conduct intelligence, communications, and targeting support for the People's Liberation Army Navy. Fishing vessels normally are exempt from capture or attack in the law of naval warfare unless they are integrated into the naval forces, but distinguishing between legitimate fishing vessels and maritime militia during naval warfare is virtually impossible.
Minelaying And The Impediment Of Passage Rights, Wolff Heintschel Von Heinegg
Minelaying And The Impediment Of Passage Rights, Wolff Heintschel Von Heinegg
International Law Studies
Since their first extensive use in the 1904–05 Russo-Japanese War naval mines have continued to pose a considerable threat to innocent shipping. States reacted by adopting the 1907 Hague Convention VIII, which has been the only international instrument on the matter to date. In view of the fact that more than 80 percent of imports and exports are shipped by sea, freedom of navigation and, in particular, transit and archipelagic sea lanes passage rights must be preserved to the greatest extent possible. The present article deals with the question of whether international rules and principles provide effective protection of international …
1907 Hague Convention Viii Relative To The Laying Of Automatic Submarine Contact Mines, Steven Haines
1907 Hague Convention Viii Relative To The Laying Of Automatic Submarine Contact Mines, Steven Haines
International Law Studies
This article places 1907 Hague Convention VIII in its historical context, examines its content, summarizes State practice since 1907 (including during the two World Wars) and discusses the Convention’s relevance to contemporary mine warfare. The Convention has inherent shortcomings, has never been strictly applicable in any war since 1907, and is not strictly relevant to anything other than automatic contact mines (effectively excluding modern influence mines). Despite this—and a paucity of substantial State practice since 1945—the conclusion is that the Convention has influenced the customary law on sea-mines. When that custom was combined with other relevant custom (particularly that pertaining …
Beyond Hague Viii: Other Legal Limits On Naval Mine Warfare, David Letts
Beyond Hague Viii: Other Legal Limits On Naval Mine Warfare, David Letts
International Law Studies
Legal texts and scholarly articles that deal with the topic of naval mine warfare typically do so by reference to Hague Convention VIII of 1907 and customary international law. Little comment, if any, is usually made in relation to the variety of other legal regimes that might impact upon the use of naval mines in armed conflict. This article seeks to redress that imbalance by examining, with a focus on the jus in bello, a range of legal considerations arising from more contemporary sources that affect the use of naval mines in international armed conflict.
The Law Applicable To Naval Mine Warfare In A Non-International Armed Conflict, Rob Mclaughlin
The Law Applicable To Naval Mine Warfare In A Non-International Armed Conflict, Rob Mclaughlin
International Law Studies
There are very few instruments and very few cases, which describe how the law in relation to naval mine warfare applies within non-international armed conflict contexts. Additionally, since 1945, there has been relatively limited State practice. Working out what the law applicable to naval mine warfare in NIAC situations might look like today thus requires some recourse to the pre-World War II scheme designed to accommodate and characterize maritime activity by rebels, insurgents, and belligerents in conflict with their State. This article proposes for discussion a set of “rules” that attempt to incorporate and update elements of this customary scheme …
Modern Maritime Neutrality Law, James Farrant
Modern Maritime Neutrality Law, James Farrant
International Law Studies
This article is a fundamental reappraisal of the rules of maritime neutrality, including blockade, contraband and maritime zones. It is one of the most comprehensive reassessments of this area of the law since R. W. Tucker's seminal work in this publication in 1955. As well as defining and stating the rules of maritime neutrality, the piece offers recommendations for future development of the law which drafters of State law of armed conflict manuals may wish to consider.
Full Volume 72: Law Of Military Operations Liber Amicorum
Full Volume 72: Law Of Military Operations Liber Amicorum
International Law Studies
No abstract provided.
Targeting Enemy Merchant Shipping: An Overview Of Law And Practice, L.F.E. Goldie
Targeting Enemy Merchant Shipping: An Overview Of Law And Practice, L.F.E. Goldie
International Law Studies
No abstract provided.
Comments On George K. Walker Paper State Practice Following World War Ii, 1945-1990, L. C. Green
Comments On George K. Walker Paper State Practice Following World War Ii, 1945-1990, L. C. Green
International Law Studies
No abstract provided.
Targeting Realities: Platforms, Weapons Systems And Capabilities, James Service
Targeting Realities: Platforms, Weapons Systems And Capabilities, James Service
International Law Studies
No abstract provided.
Comments On Howard S. Levie's Paper: Submarine Warfare: With Emphasis On The 1936 London Protocol, Dieter Fleck
Comments On Howard S. Levie's Paper: Submarine Warfare: With Emphasis On The 1936 London Protocol, Dieter Fleck
International Law Studies
No abstract provided.
The Naval Practices Of Belligerents In World War Ii: Legal Criteria And Developments, J. Ashley Roach
The Naval Practices Of Belligerents In World War Ii: Legal Criteria And Developments, J. Ashley Roach
International Law Studies
No abstract provided.
Comments On Sally V. And W. Thomas Mallison's Paper: The Naval Practices Of Belligerents In World War Ii: Legal Criteria And Developments, M. W. Janis
International Law Studies
No abstract provided.
The Naval Practices Of Belligerents In World War Ii: Legal Criteria And Developments, Sally V. Mallison, Thomas W. Mallison
The Naval Practices Of Belligerents In World War Ii: Legal Criteria And Developments, Sally V. Mallison, Thomas W. Mallison
International Law Studies
No abstract provided.
Comments On H. B. Robertson's Paper: U.S. Policy On Targeting Enemy Merchant Shipping: Bridging The Gap Between Conventional Law And State Practice, Kaishoven Frits
Comments On H. B. Robertson's Paper: U.S. Policy On Targeting Enemy Merchant Shipping: Bridging The Gap Between Conventional Law And State Practice, Kaishoven Frits
International Law Studies
No abstract provided.
State Practice Following World War Ii, 1945-1990, George K. Walker
State Practice Following World War Ii, 1945-1990, George K. Walker
International Law Studies
No abstract provided.
Comments On James Service's Paper: Targeting Realities: Platforms, Weapons Systems And Capabilities, J. H. Doyle Jr.
Comments On James Service's Paper: Targeting Realities: Platforms, Weapons Systems And Capabilities, J. H. Doyle Jr.
International Law Studies
No abstract provided.