ABSTRACT

Over the past several decades, legal issues in military operations have dramatically increased, creating a growing reliance by commanders and staffs on their military legal advisors.1 This is certainly the case in expeditionary warfare, which can be defined as “Military operations which can be initiated at short notice, consisting of forward deployed, or rapidly deployable, self-sustaining forces tailored to achieve a clearly stated objective at a distance from home base.”2 Expeditionary forces are often deployed in peripheral campaigns, which are called “peripheral” because they take place in secondary theatres, not the main front. Naval powers, in particular, have engaged in numerous peripheral campaigns. Historically, naval expeditionary campaigns have been both non-consensual and consensual, meaning the government with sovereignty over the theatre either opposes or welcomes the expeditionary campaign. Each type has unique legal aspects.