ABSTRACT
It has been generally assumed by contemporary writers that in traditional international law, “States in wartime were only entitled to choose between the status of neutrality on the one hand and that of belligerents on the other.”25 In other words, a State that chose not to participate in a war automatically became a neutral. This means that, conversely, a State was free to participate in a war between other States by becoming a belligerent State. Apart from States that were obliged to remain neutral by special treaties (such as permanently neutral States), the duty of States to remain neutral in time of war did not exist in general international law. Regarding this point, there is an agreement among writers.26
