ABSTRACT
International humanitarian law covers two areas: (1) the protection of those who do not take part, or who are no longer taking part, in fighting; and (2) restrictions on the means of warfare (in particular, weapons) and the methods of warfare, such as military tactics. 3 Lauterpacht pointed out that three principles have determined the growth of the “laws of war”: the principle that a belligerent is justified in applying any amount and any kind of force considered necessary to achieve the goal of a conflict-the defeat of the enemy; the principle that because of humanitarian considerations, any violence not necessary for the achievement of that goal should be prohibited; and the principle that a certain amount of chivalry, the spirit of fairness, should prevail in the conduct of hostilities-that certain practices smacking of fraud and deceit should be avoided. 4 The laws of war took the initial form of rules of customary law, beginning even before the sixteenth century. Their modern development, however, has taken place through the application of conventional law, through the conclusion of a number of multilateral treaties. 5
EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF THE LAW OF WAR The middle of the nineteenth century witnessed the birth of modern attempts to develop a jus in bello. The Declaration of Paris (1856) abolished privateering and formulated regulations for blockades and contraband goods. The true beginning of present-day rules applicable to land warfare came in 1863, when Dr. Francis Lieber’s Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field was issued to the Union Army during the American Civil War on April 24, 1863, as General Orders No. 100. The thoroughness of Lieber’s work impressed military men elsewhere. The Instructions became the model for numerous national manuals (Italy, 1896 and 1900; Russia, 1904; and France, 1901 and 1912).
