Unit 2: Use of Force and War — Meaning and Types of War; Historical Evolution of the Laws of War; Jus ad Bellum, Jus in Bello and Jus contra Bellum; Principles of Prohibition of Use of Force under the UN Charter; Aggression; Self-Defence and Collective Security
1. Meaning and Types of War
War in the classical sense: a state of armed hostilities between states, recognized and governed by the laws of war — a legal status (with its consequences: treaties, neutrality, enemy-property rules) as much as a fact. The modern era’s reform: the UN Charter’s outlawry dissolved war’s legality — modern doctrine prefers “armed conflict” (the Geneva Conventions’ term): any armed confrontation between states (international) or between a state and organized armed groups (non-international), whatever the declaration. Types: declared/undeclared war; total/limited; international vs. non-international armed conflict (Common Articles 2 and 3’s divide); conventional/guerrilla/cyber-enabled; the “hybrid” spectrum below the armed-conflict threshold.
2. Historical Evolution of the Laws of War
- Antiquity and custom: just-war theory’s childhood (Augustine; the bellum justum tradition) and the warrior codes (chivalry, the Hindu dharmayuddha, Islamic siyar);
- The classical age of restraint (Grotius to the Hague): Grotius’s De Jure Belli ac Pacis (1625) — war’s law in bello; the Peace of Westphalia’s system; the Lieber Code (1863) — the first modern war manual (the American Civil War’s rules for armies in the field);
- The Hague era (1899, 1907): the Conventions’ codification — the laws and customs of war on land: the means-and-methods rules, the combatant categories, the Martens Clause (“until a more complete code… the dictates of public conscience”) — and the Permanent Court of Arbitration;
- The Geneva tradition (1864 → 1949): the Red Cross’s founding (Dunant at Solferino, 1859) — the wounded’s protection; the 1949 four Geneva Conventions (Unit 7’s core) + the 1977 Additional Protocols;
- The League era (1919–39): the Covenant of the League (collective security’s first design — gaps and all) and the Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928)
This is a preview. The complete Public International Law-II notes — full unit, Exam Focus box and model questions — are in the PDF / full version. Get the complete notes →