The Outlawry of War
In the October,1924, number of this Journal the writer examined the changes in the conception of war since the middle ages with the conclusion that under present international law “acts of war” are illegal unless committed in time of war or other extraordinary necessity but the transition from a state of peace to a “state of war” is neither legal nor illegal. A state of war is regarded as an event, the origin of which is outside of international law although that law prescribes rules for its conduct differing from those which prevail in time of peace. The reason for this conception, different from that of antiquity and the middle ages was found in the complexity of the causes of war in the present state of international relations, in the difficulty of locating responsibility in the present regime of constitutional government, and in the prevalence of the scientific habit of attributing occurrences to natural causes rather than to design. It was recalled, however, that the problem of eliminating war has gained in importance while the possibility of solving it through the application of law has improved with the development of jural science. Thus efforts have been made to eliminate war(1) by defining responsibility for bringing on a state of war,(2) by defining justifiable self-defense, and(3) by providing sanctions for enforcement.