International Law Part 43

A. +RULES OF CONDUCT WITH RESPECT TO PERSONS+

(_a_) _Of the inoffensive population_

Acts of violence being permissible only between armed forces (Art. 1),

7. It is forbidden to maltreat the inoffensive portion of the population.

(_b_) _Of means of injuring the enemy_

Loyalty of conduct being enjoined (Art. 4),

8. It is forbidden:--

(_a_) To employ poison in any form.

(_b_) To endeavor to take the life of an enemy in a traitorous manner,--_e.g._ by employing a.s.sa.s.sins, or by simulating surrender.

(_c_) To attack the enemy while concealing the distinctive marks of an armed force.

(_d_) To make improper use of the national flag, of signs of military ranks, or of the uniform of the enemy, of a flag of truce, or of the protective marks prescribed by the Convention of Geneva. (See Arts. 17 and 40.)

It being obligatory to abstain from useless severities (Art. 4),

9. It is forbidden:--

(_a_) To use arms, projectiles, or substances calculated to inflict superfluous suffering, or to aggravate wounds, particularly projectiles which, being explosible, or charged with fulminating or inflammable substances, weigh less than four hundred grams.

(Declaration of St. Petersburg.)[497]

(_b_) To mutilate or kill an enemy who has surrendered at discretion, or is disabled, and to declare that quarter will not be given, even if the force making such declaration does not claim quarter for itself.

(_c_) _Of wounded, sick, and the hospital staff_

The wounded, the sick, and the hospital staff are exempted from unnecessary severities, which might otherwise touch them, by the following rules (Arts. 10 to 18), drawn from the Convention of Geneva.

10. Wounded and sick soldiers must be brought in and cared for, to whatever nation they belong.

11. When circ.u.mstances permit, officers commanding in chief, immediately after a combat, may send in enemy soldiers wounded during it to the advanced posts of the enemy, with the consent of the latter.

12. The operation of moving sick and wounded is a neutral act, and the staff engaged in it is neutral.

13. The staff of the hospitals and ambulances--namely, surgeons, clerks, hospital orderlies, and other persons employed in the sanitary, administrative, and transport departments, as well as chaplains, and members and agents of societies duly authorized to a.s.sist the official hospital staff--is considered to be neutral while exercising its functions, and so long as there are wounded to remove or succor.

14. The staff specified in the preceding Article must continue after occupation by an enemy has taken place to give its attention to the sick and wounded, to such extent as may be needful, in the ambulance or hospital which it serves.

15. When such staff applies for leave to retire, it falls to the officer commanding the occupying troops to fix the date of departure. After request, however, has been made, the departure of the staff can only be postponed for a short time, and for reasons of military necessity.

16. Measures must, if possible, be taken to secure to the neutralized staff fitting maintenance and allowance when it falls into the hands of the enemy.

17. The neutralized hospital staff must wear a white armlet with a red cross on it. The armlet can be issued only by the military authorities.

18. It is the duty of the generals of the belligerent Powers to appeal to the humanity of the inhabitants of the country in which they are operating, for the purpose of inducing them to succor the wounded, pointing out to them at the same time the advantages which result to themselves therefrom (Arts. 36 and 59). Those who respond to any such appeal are ent.i.tled to special protection.

(_d_) _Of the dead_

19. It is forbidden to strip and mutilate the dead lying on the field of battle.

20. The dead must never be buried before such indications of their ident.i.ty (especially "livrets, numeros," etc.) as they may have upon them have been collected. The indications thus gathered upon enemy dead are communicated to their army or government.

(_e_) _Who can be made prisoners of war_

21. Persons forming part of the armed force of belligerents, on falling into the power of the enemy, must be treated as prisoners of war, conformably to Article 61, and those following it.

This rule applies to messengers openly carrying official dispatches, and to civil aeronauts employed to observe the enemy or to keep up communication between different parts of the army or territory.

22. Persons who follow an army without forming part of it, such as correspondents of newspapers, sutlers, contractors, etc., on falling into the power of the enemy, can only be detained for so long a time as may be required by military necessity.

(_f_) _Of spies_

23. Persons captured as spies cannot demand to be treated as prisoners of war.

_But_

24. Persons belonging to a belligerent armed force are not to be considered spies on entering, without the cover of a disguise, within the area of the actual operations of the enemy. Messengers, also, who openly carry official dispatches, and aeronauts (Art. 21) are not to be considered spies.

To guard against the abuses to which accusations of acting as a spy give rise in time of war, it must clearly be understood that

25. No person accused of being a spy can be punished without trial.

It is moreover admitted that

26. A spy who succeeds in quitting a territory occupied by the enemy, cannot be held responsible for acts done before so leaving, if he afterwards falls into the enemy's hands.

(_g_) _Of flags of truce_

27. A person who is authorized by one of the belligerents to enter communication with the other belligerent, and presents himself to the latter with a white flag, is inviolable.

28. He may be accompanied by a trumpeter or drummer, by a flag-bearer, and, if necessary by a guide, and an interpreter, all of whom are also inviolable.

The necessity of this privilege is evident, especially as its exercise is frequently required in the simple interests of humanity.

It must not, however, be so used as to be prejudicial to the opposite party.

Hence,