Francis Lieber

“ A prisoner of war, who escapes, may be shot, or otherwise killed in his flight; but neither death nor any other punishment is inflicted upon him simply for his attempt to escape, which the law of war does not consider a crime. ”

“ Martial Law in a conquered or invaded country, or place, is temporary Military Absolutism, in the hands of commanders, who, therefore, must take care that it does not degenerate into arbitrary despotism. Martial Law is not the reckless use of military power by the highest or lowest in arms. Military oppression is not Martial Law.
§ 5. Military Necessity, as understood by modern civilized nations, consists in the necessity of those measures which are indispensable for the obtaining of the ends of the war, and are lawful according to the modern law and usages of war. ”

“ The more vigorously wars are pursued, the better it is for humanity. Sharp wars are brief.
Ever since the formation and co-existence of modern nations, and ever since wars have become great national wars, War has come to be acknowledged not to be its own end, 3but the means to obtain great ends of state, or to consist in defence against wrong; and no conventional restriction of the modes adopted to injure the enemy is any longer admitted; but the law of war imposes many limitations and restrictions on principles of justice, faith, and honor. ”

“ Therefore, if the United States wage war with a government which admits of slavery, and a fugitive from the opposite belligerent offers himself for protection to the American army, and is free from the suspicion of mischievous intentions, he must be received and protected, be he a fugitive slave or not ”

“ The Law of War does not allow proclaiming either an individual belonging to the hostile army, or a citizen, or a subject of the hostile government, an outlaw, that may be slain without trial by any captor, any more than the modern law of peace allows such international outlawry ”

“ No prisoner of war can be forced by the hostile government to parole himself, and no government is obliged to parole prisoners of war, or to parole all captured officers, if it paroles any. As the pledging of the parole is an individual act, so is paroling, on the other hand, an act of choice on the part of the belligerent. ”

“ Military Necessity does not admit of cruelty—that is, the infliction of suffering for the sake of suffering or for revenge;—nor of maiming or wounding except in fight, nor of torture to extort confessions ”

“ The destruction of the enemy, in modern war, and, indeed, modern war itself, are means to obtain that object of the belligerent which lies beyond the war.
Unnecessary or revengeful destruction of life, is not lawful. ”

“ Martial Law affects chiefly the police and collection of public revenue and taxes, whether imposed by the expelled government or by the invader, and refers mainly to the support and efficiency of the army, its safety and the safety of its operations. ”

“ A victorious army appropriates all public money, seizes all public movable property until further direction by its government, and sequesters, for its own benefit, or that of its government, all real property belonging to the hostile government or nation. ”

“ The Law of Nations allows every sovereign government to make war upon another sovereign state, and, therefore, admits of no different rules regarding the treatment of prisoners of war, although they may belong to the army of a government which the captor may consider as a wanton and unjust assailant; nor has the defensive government the right to proclaim that it will ill-treat the prisoners it may make, against the rules and laws of regular warfare.
§ 37. Modern wars are not internecine wars, in which the killing of the enemy is the object. ”

“ The chief of the hostile government, the monarch and members of the hostile reigning family, male or female, the chief officers of the hostile government, its diplomatic agents, and all persons who are of particular and singular use and benefit to the hostile army or its government, are, if captured on belligerent ground, and if unprovided with a safe conduct granted by the captor’s government, prisoners of war. ”

“ A prisoner of war is a public enemy, armed or attached to the hostile army for active aid, having fallen into the hands of the captor, either fighting or wounded, on the field or in the hospital, by individual surrender or by capitulation. ”

“ All soldiers, of whatever species of arms; all men who belong to the rising en masse of the hostile country; all those who are attached to the army for its efficiency, and promote directly the object of the war, such as officers of the commissariat or teamsters, if captured; all enemies who have thrown away their arms and ask for quarter; all disabled men or officers on the field or elsewhere: all such persons are prisoners of war, and as such exposed to the inconveniences as well as entitled to the privileges of a prisoner of war. ”

“ Civil officers kept as prisoners of war, may be paroled; but no citizens without office, no citizens in a merchant vessel stopped by a privateer or man-of-war, can be paroled. Nor can inhabitants of places or territories occupied by the enemy, be paroled by the latter. Their government does not lose its claim for military service upon such persons, should they give their parole, for it is of no value. If they should be paroled, and, being captured at a later period 22as soldiers, should not be treated by the captor as prisoners of war, such conduct of the enemy would be ground for retaliation. ”

“ Honorable men, when captured, will abstain from giving to the enemy information concerning their own army, and the modern law of war permits no longer the use of any violence against prisoners, in order to extort the desired information, or to punish them for having given false information. ”

“ If a citizen of the United States obtains information in a legitimate manner, and betrays it to the enemy, be he a military or civil officer, or a private citizen, he is a traitor, and is condemned to death.
§ 57. All unauthorized and secret communication with the enemy, is considered treasonable by the Law of War. ”

“ A victorious army, by the martial power inherent in the same, may suspend, change, disacknowledge, or abolish, as far as the martial power extends, the relations which arise from the services due, according to the existing laws of the invaded country, from one citizen, subject, or native of the same to another. ”

“ It allows of no individual violence; and since it consists in the substitution of military rule for the established law and its administration, and because it is founded on military force, it is incumbent upon all military authorities acting by Martial Law, to be strictly guided by the principles of justice, honor, and humanity—virtues adorning a soldier even more than other men, for the very reason that he possesses the power of his arms against the unarmed. ”

“ Military Necessity admits of all direct destruction of life or limb of the armed enemies, and of those whose destruction is incidentally unavoidable in the armed contests of the war; it allows of the capturing of every armed enemy, and every enemy of importance to the hostile government, or of peculiar danger to the captor ”

“ If prisoners of war, having given no pledge nor made any promise, on their honor, forcibly, or otherwise escape, and are captured again in battle, after having rejoined their own army, they are not punished for their escape, and are treated as simple prisoners of war, although they will be subjected to stricter confinement. ”

“ Persons within an occupied territory, that rise in 16arms against the occupying or conquering army, or against the authorities established by the same, are war-rebels, and suffer death, whether they rise singly, in small or large bands, and whether called upon to do so by their own, but expelled, government or not. If captured, they are not prisoners of war ”

“ Modern times are distinguished from earlier ages, by the existence, at one and the same time, of many nations and great governments, related to one another in close intercourse. They draw abreast like chariot horses. ”

“ In modern wars all civil and penal law continues to take its usual course in the enemy’s places and territories under Martial Law, unless interrupted or stopped by order of the occupying military power; but all the functions of the hostile government, legislative, executive, or administrative, whether of a general, provincial, or local character, 4cease under Martial Law, or continue only with the assistance or special approbation of the occupier or invader. ”

“ A messenger carrying despatches, in whatever form, from one portion of the army, or from a besieged place, to another portion of the same army, or its government—if captured while doing so, in the enemy’s territory, or in the territory occupied by the enemy, is treated by the capturing enemy as a spy. ”

“ In exchanging prisoners of war, such numbers of persons of inferior rank may be substituted as an equivalent for one of superior rank, as may be agreed upon by cartel, which requires the sanction of the President of the United States, or of the commander of the army in the field.
§ 64. A prisoner of war is in honor bound truly to state to the captor his rank, and not to assume a lower rank than belongs to him, in order to cause a more advantageous exchange ”

“ The law of war does not only disclaim all cruelty and bad faith concerning engagements concluded with the enemy during the war (§ 7) , but also the breaking of stipulations solemnly contracted by the belligerents, in time of peace, and avowedly intended to remain in force in case of war between the contracting powers. ”

“ If, however, a conspiracy is discovered, the purpose of which is a united or general escape, the conspirators are rigorously punished, even with death, as capital punishment is also inflicted upon prisoners of war discovered to have plotted rebellion against the authorities of the captors, whether in union with fellow-prisoners or other persons. ”

“ If the owner has not fled, the commanding and seizing officer will give receipts, which may serve the spoliated owner to obtain indemnity from his own government, or which, if the seized property consists in large magazines and stores, or extensive real property—such as the demolition of houses, or the seizure of extensive lands for the erection of fortifications—may be ultimately accounted for or disposed of by the treaty of peace concluding the war. ”

“ If a person belonging to the territory of the enemy, occupied by a hostile army, gives information to the enemy, unauthorized to do so by the occupying or conquering authority, such person is either a spy or traitor, and in either case is punished with death. ”

“ A place, district, or country, invested or occupied by an enemy, stands, in consequence of the occupation, under the Martial Law of the investing or invading army, whether any proclamation declaring Martial Law, or any public warning to the inhabitants, has been issued or not. ”

“ The exchange of prisoners of war is an act of convenience to both belligerents. If no general cartel has been concluded, it cannot be demanded by either of them. No belligerent is obliged to exchange prisoners of war. ”

“ All wanton violence committed against persons in the invaded country, all destruction of property not commanded by the authorized officer, all robbery, all pillage, or sacking, even after taking a place by main force, all rape, wounding, maiming, or killing of such inhabitants, are prohibited under the penalty of death, or such other severe punishment as may seem adequate for the gravity of the offence. ”

“ The enemy’s army surgeons, apothecaries, hospital nurses, hospital servants and superintendents, and chaplains, if they fall into the hands of the American army, are not prisoners of war, unless the commander has reasons to retain them. ”

“ The use of poison in any manner, be it to poison wells, or food, or arms, is wholly excluded from modern warfare. He that uses it, puts himself out of the pale of the law and usages of war. Thousands of years ago it was held that 13no one who fears a supreme avenger of wrong, will poison his arrow. ”

“ Nor is the privilege of the prisoner of war extended to single armed prowlers, by whatever names they may be called, or to persons of the enemy’s territory, who steal within the lines of the hostile army, for the purpose of robbing, killing, destroying bridges, roads, or canals, or of robbing or destroying the mail, or of cutting the telegraph wires. ”

“ Classical works of art, noble fabrics, libraries, scientific collections, or precious instruments, such as astronomic telescopes, as well as hospitals, must be tenderly secured in the name of common humanity and civilization, against all avoidable injury, even when they are contained in fortified places, whilst besieged or bombarded. ”

“ The law of nature and nations, has never acknowledged it. The jurists of all countries agree. The Digest of the Roman Law enacts the early dictum of the pagan jurist, that “so far as the law of nature is concerned, all men are equal” ”