CONVENTION WITH RESPECT TO THE LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF WAR ON LAND
(HAGUE, II) (29 July 1899) Entry into Force: 4 September 1900
His Majesty the Emperor of Germany, King of Prussia; [etc.]:
Considering that, while seeking means to preserve peace and
prevent armed conflicts among nations, it is likewise necessary
to have regard to cases where an appeal to arms may be caused by
events which their solicitude could not avert; Animated by the
desire to serve, even in this extreme hypothesis, the interest
of humanity and the ever increasing requirements of
civilization; Thinking it important, with this object, to revise
the laws and general customs of war, either with the view of
defining them more precisely, or of laying down certain limits
for the purpose of modifying their severity as far as possible;
Inspired by these views which are enjoined at the present day,
as they were twenty-five years ago at the time of the Brussels
Conference in 1874, by a wise and generous foresight; Have, in
this spirit, adopted a great