Search results

This article shall demonstrate the significance of The Hague Peace Conference of 1907 for the development of contemporary Public International Law. Important achievements of modem international law found their beginning within the 1907 codifications. It will be shown how the 2nd Hague Peace Conference caused a distinct change of the "westphalian" international law system with its free right of warfare (ius ad bellum) as an expression of sovereignty. The Conventions of 1907 mark the beginning of a new development in Public International Law -- starting with the codification of an ius in bello & leading to a general prohibition of the use of force, a legal system of collective security & consequently a law against war (ius contra bellum). Furthermore, some new tendencies in international law will be identified, which do not only regulate the sovereignty of states related to the law of warfare, but which also constitute a set of rules that requires the states to conduct active peacemaking. References.