66 With the permission of the competent military authority this emblem shall be shown on the flags and armlets (brassards), as well as on all the material belonging to the medical service." (Article 19.) 66 The personnel protected in pursuance of Articles 9 (par. 1), 10, and 11, shall wear, fixed to the left arm, an armlet (brassard) with a Red Cross on a white ground, delivered and stamped by the competent military authority and accompanied by a certificate of identity in the case of persons who are attached to the medical service of armies, but who have not a military uniform." (Article 20.) It will be noted that there are no regulations respecting the size of the flag, the brassard, and the Red Cross. In any case the Red Cross should be visible. The armlet is not always indispensable to confer immunity, seeing that it need not be worn by those employed only temporarily in the medical service, e.g., pickets, guards, litter-bearers. "The distinctive flag of the Convention shall be hoisted only over The Red those medical units and establishments which are entitled to be Cross flag. respected under the Convention and with the consent of the military authority. It should be accompanied by the national flag of the belligerent to whom the unit or establishment belongs. Nevertheless, medical units which have fallen into the hands of the enemy, so long as they are in that situation, shall not fly any other flag than that of the Red Cross." (Article 21.) It is evident from this provision that the Red Cross flag must not be allowed to fly over civil hospitals or any buildings and ambulances except those that are here specified. But in recent wars, civil hospitals, particularly those in bombarded towns, have usually hoisted the Geneva flag. No provision has been made for the use of a visible sign at night. It would seem that persons wearing the armlet, who approach a position or works that the enemy is anxious to conceal, may be ordered to halt either by shouting to them or firing a warning shot, and, if they do not halt in spite of the perceptible signals, may be shot at, or, in the alternative, captured and detained (1). "The medical units belonging to neutral countries which may be authorized to afford their services under the conditions laid down in Article 11 shall fly, along with the flag of the Convention, the national flag of the belligerent to whose army they are attached. (1) Cf. Ariga, La guerre russo-japonaise, pp. 189 seq. The provisions of the second paragraph of the preceding Article are applicable to them." (Article 22.) "The emblem of the Red Cross on a white ground and the words 'Red Cross' or 'Geneva Cross' shall not be used, either in time of peace or in time of war, except to protect or to indicate the medical units and establishments and the personnel and material protected by the Convention." (Article 23.) (This Article was not accepted by Great Britain.) "The provisions of the present Convention are binding only upon the contracting Powers in the case of war between two or more of them. These provisions shall cease to be binding from the moment when one of the belligerent Powers is not a party to the Convention." (Article 24.) "The commanders-in-chief of belligerent armies shall arrange the details for carrying out the preceding Articles, as well as for cases not provided for, in accordance with the instructions of their respective Governments and in conformity with the general principles of the present Convention." (Article 25.) "The signatory Governments will take the necessary measures to instruct their troops, especially the personnel protected, in the provisions of the present Convention, and to bring them to the notice of the civil population." (Article 26.) "The signatory Governments, in countries the legislation of which is not at present adequate for the purpose, undertake to adopt or to propose to their legislative bodies such measures as may be necessary to prevent at all times the employment of the emblem or the name of Red Cross or Geneva Cross by private individuals or by societies other than those entitled to do so under the present Convention, and in particular for commercial purposes as a trade mark or trading mark. The prohibition of the employment of the emblem or the names in question shall come into operation from the date fixed by each legislature, and at the latest five years after the present Convention comes into force. From that date it shall no longer be lawful to adopt a trade mark or trading mark contrary to this prohibition." (Article 27.) (This Article was not accepted by Great Britain.) The signatory Governments also undertake to adopt, or to propose to their legislative bodies, should their military law be insufficient for the purpose, the measures necessary for the repression in time of war of individual acts of pillage and maltreatment of the sick and wounded of armies, as well as for the punishment, as an unlawful employment of military insignia, of the improper use of the Red Cross flag and armlet (brassard) by officers and soldiers or private individuals not protected by the present Convention. They shall communicate to one another, through the Swiss Federal Council, the provisions relative to these measures of repression at the latest within five years from the ratification of the present Convention." (Article 28.) (This Article was not accepted by Great Britain. Whilst the British delegates expressed their sympathy with the provisions of Articles 23, 27 and 28, they did not accept them, because they were unable to guarantee that the legislature would enact them.) The remaining Articles (29-33) relate to the ratification of the Convention, to its denunciation, and to the subsequent adhesion of Powers not originally parties thereto. Article 31 lays down, as has already been pointed out, that the Convention of 1864 applies to such of its signatories as do not ratify the present Convention (m). INJURING THE In former times nearly all methods conceivable were considered MEANS OF legitimate by a belligerent in his efforts to overcome or destroy ENEMY ON his enemy. Gradually relaxations were introduced, through the LAND. influence of religion, the writings of jurists and others, the growing sense of humanity among the peoples of the world, and the humaner practices of generous and chivalrous commanders. Thus limitations were gradually imposed on the means of injuring the enemy, and so definite customs and usages became generally recognised and established. Now we have a considerable body of conventional law on the subject; though the customary law is to be taken as supplementing it where necessary. The Hague Regulations and Declarations as well as the St. Petersburg Declaration apply here. "The right of belligerents to adopt means of injuring the enemy Means is not unlimited" (n). "Considering that the progress of civilization should have the effect of alleviating as much as possible the calamities of war; that the only legitimate object which States should endeavour to accomplish during war is to weaken the military forces of the enemy; that for this purpose it is sufficient to disable the greatest possible number of men; that this object would be exceeded by the employ (m) As to various infractions of the Geneva Convention during the Great War, see Phillipson, Int. Law and the Great War, pp. 245 seq. iv. 22. limited. Special ment of arms which needlessly aggravate the sufferings of disabled men, or render their death inevitable; that the employment of such arms would therefore be contrary to the laws of humanity; the contracting parties engage mutually to renounce in case of war among themselves the employment by their military or naval troops of any projectile of a weight less than 400 grammes (about 13 ounces), which is either explosive or charged with fulminating or inflammable substances" (o). The three following Hague Declarations deal with aircraft projectiles, asphyxiating gases, and expanding bullets: "The contracting Powers agree to prohibit, for a period extending to the close of the Third Peace Conference, the discharge of projectiles and explosives from balloons or by other new methods of a similar nature" (p). "The contracting Powers agree to abstain from the use of projectiles the sole object of which is the diffusion of asphyxiating or deleterious gases" (q). "The contracting parties agree to abstain from the use of bullets which expand or flatten easily in the human body, such as bullets with a hard envelope which does not entirely cover the core, or is pierced with incisions" (r). Besides the prohibitions contained in the Declaration of St. prohibitions. Petersburg, the Hague Declarations, and any others that may have been or may be laid down, the Hague Regulations (1907) particularly forbid combatants to have recourse to the following proceedings: (a) To employ poison or poisoned weapons; (b) To kill or wound treacherously individuals belonging to the (c) To kill or wound an enemy who, having laid down his arms, (d) To declare that no quarter will be given; (e) To employ arms, projectiles, or material of a nature to cause (f) To make improper use of a flag of truce, of the national flag, (g) To destroy or seize the enemy's property, unless such (0) Declaration of St. Petersburg, 1868. (p) Hague Declar. (1907) (1). destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the (h) To declare extinguished, suspended, or inadmissible in a A belligerent is likewise forbidden to compel the nationals of the hostile party to take part in the operations of war directed against their own country, even if they were in the belligerent's service before the commencement of the war" (8). "Ruses of war and the employment of measures necessary for Ruses of war. obtaining information about the enemy and the country are considered lawful" (t). warfare It is clear from the foregoing that the instruments and methods Methods of of warfare that a belligerent may adopt are restricted. International law proclaims that the only object of war as such is to overcome the armed forces of the enemy. The infliction of death and agony as an end in itself, the illtreatment of combatants who have already been disarmed, are, therefore, illegitimate. Similarly, the use of projectiles and arms which not only effectively disable the enemy, but also entail unnecessary suffering, is contrary to war law. The fundamental principle throughout warfare is that no greater force, no greater severity should be applied than is absolutely necessary to gain ascendancy over the adversary. The plea of military necessity' cannot prevail over specific prohibitions imposed by law, written or customary. The Hague Rules sometimes speak of military necessity by Military way of exception; but the German Official Manual sets it up as necessity. the predominating factor in warlike procedure, to which all the established mitigations of warfare, all considerations of humanity and fairness are subservient. The instructions contained in the Kriegsbrauch are inconsistent with the rules we have set forth, when they state that the German armies must, in order to be efficient, do their utmost to annihilate the enemy-to demolish his material possessions, to crush his physical power, to destroy his intellectual and moral resources-in a word, to bring about his entire demoralization. Officers are warned against the humanitarian tendencies of the time. The Manual declares that it is the combatants' own interest that dictates the imposition of restric |