Lincoln, Lieber and the Laws of War: The Origins and Limits of the Principle of Military Necessity

Abstract

The roots of the modern law of war lie in the 1860s. Developments in this decade began in 1862 when Henry Dunant published Un Souvenir de Solferino, which inspired the conclusion two years later of the first Geneva Convention on treatment of the sick and wounded. Four years later came the first multilateral agreement to ban the use of a particular weapon in war. And in 1863, before either of these agreements had been concluded, the earliest official government codification of the laws of war was promulgated by the United States. This codification was issued as General Orders No. 100, Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field, more commonly known as the “Lieber Code.”