ABSTRACT
Many of the combatants in the European wars of the late middle ages fought for their own gain, but they observed a code of regulations, part chivalrous and part commercial which they called the ‘law of arms’. This book, originally published in 1965, examines this soldiers’ code, to understand its rules and how they were enforced. How did a soldier sue for ransom money if his prisoner would not pay it, and before what court? How did he know whether what he took by force was lawful spoil? As the answers to these and other questions reveal, the workings of the law of arms gave practical point to the contemporary cult of chivalry. It also had an important influence on the early development of ideas of international law.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter |4 pages
Introduction
part |55 pages
The Legal Basis of the Law of Arms and its Administration
chapter |16 pages
The Legal Basis of The Law of Arms
chapter |22 pages
The Trial of Military Gases
chapter |15 pages
The Authority of Military Courts
part |73 pages
The Just War and its Conditions
chapter |19 pages
The Legal Theory of Just War
chapter |19 pages
The Problems of Allegiance and of Illicit War
chapter |18 pages
The Signs of War
chapter |15 pages
Sieges
part |51 pages
The ‘Incidents' of Just War
chapter |19 pages
Gains of War and their Division
chapter |30 pages
The Law of Ransom
part |61 pages
Interludes in War and Peace