SECTION III MILITARY AUTHORITY OVER THE TERRITORY OF THE HOSTILE STATE

Article 42

Territory is considered occupied when actually placed under the authority of the hostile army.

The occupation extends only to the territory where such authority has been established and is in a position to assert itself.

Article 43

The authority of the power of the State having passed de facto into the hands of the occupant, the latter shall do all in his power to restore, and ensure, as far as possible, public order and safety, respecting at the same time, unless absolutely prevented, the laws in force in the country.

Article 44

A belligerent is forbidden to compel the inhabitants of territory occupied by it to furnish information about the army of the other belligerent, or about its means of defence.

Article 45

It is forbidden to force the inhabitants of occupied territory to swear allegiance to the hostile Power.

Article 46

Family honour and rights, individual life, and private property, as well as religious convictions and worship, must be respected.

Private property may not be confiscated.

Article 47

Pillage is expressly forbidden.

Article 48

If, in the territory occupied, the occupant collects the taxes, dues, and tolls payable to the State, he shall do so, as far as is

possible, in accordance with the legal basis and assessment in force at the time, and shall in consequence be bound to defray the expenses of the administration of the occupied territory to the same extent as the national Government had been so bound.

Article 49

If, in addition to the taxes mentioned in the above Article, the occupant levies other money contributions in the occupied territory, they shall only be applied to the needs of the army or of the administration of the territory in question.

Article 50

No collective penalty, pecuniary or otherwise, shall be inflicted upon the population on account of the acts of individuals for which it cannot be regarded as collectively responsible.

Article 51

No contribution shall be collected except under a written order, and on the responsibility of a General in command.

The collection of the said contribution shall only be effected in accordance, as far as is possible, with the legal basis and assessment of taxes in force at the time.

For every contribution a receipt shall be given to the contributories.

Article 52

Requisitions in kind and services shall not be demanded from local authorities or inhabitants except for the needs of the army of occupation. They shall be in proportion to the resources of the country, and of such a nature as not to involve the inhabitants in the obligation of taking part in military operations against their own country.

Such requisitions and services shall only be demanded on the authority of the commander in the locality occupied.

Contributions in kind shall as far as possible be paid for in ready money; if not, a receipt shall be given and the payment of the amount due shall be made as soon as possible.

Article 58

An army of occupation shall only take possession of cash, funds, and realizable securities which are strictly the property of the State, depots of arms, means of transport, stores and supplies, and, generally, all movable property belonging to the State which may be used for military operations.

Except in cases governed by naval law, all appliances adapted for the transmission of news, or for the transport of persons or goods, whether on land, at sea, or in the air, depots of arms, and, in general, all kinds of war material may be seized, even if they belong to private individuals, but they must be restored at the conclusion of peace, and indemnities must be paid for them.

Article 54

Submarine cables connecting an occupied territory with a neutral territory shall not be seized or destroyed except in the case of absolute necessity. They also must be restored at the conclusion of peace, and indemnities paid for them.

Article 55

The occupying State shall be regarded only as administrator and usufructuary of public buildings, landed property, forests, and agricultural undertakings belonging to the hostile State, and situated in the occupied country. It must safeguard the capital of such properties, and administer them in accordance with the rules of usufruct.

Article 56

The property of local authorities, as well as that of institutions dedicated to public worship, charity, education, and to science and art, even when State property, shall be treated as private property.

Any seizure or destruction of, or wilful damage to, institutions of this character, historic monuments and works of science and art, is forbidden, and should be made the subject of legal proceedings.

NOTE. - The foregoing Regulations are not part of the Hague Convention of 1907 on The Laws and Customs of War on Land. They are instead an Annex to the Convention; and their exact position is defined in the preamble of it, which speaks of them as "intended to serve as general rules of conduct for belligerents in their relations with each other and with populations." But the generality of the rules, and the fact that states have not pledged themselves to their exact wording must not be taken to imply that they are mere pious opinions which commanders in the field may carry into effect or not according to their own reading of the military exigencies of the moment. The assertion in Article 2 of the Convention that the Regulations "are only binding between the Contracting Powers, and only if all the belligerents are parties to the Convention" carries with it the implication that except in abnormal circumstances they are binding. And this view is confirmed by Article 3, which imposes on "a belligerent party which violates the provisions of the said Regulations" a liability to pay compensation, and further declares that "it shall be responsible for all acts committed by persons forming part of its armed forces." Accordingly we find that most of the leading countries of the civilised world have issued codes of Regulations for their armies in time of war; and these not only conform to the principles of the Hague Règlement but reproduce in most cases its words. Some of them deal with matters on which the Hague Conference was unable to come to an agreement, such as the treatment of populations who in occupied territory rise against the occupying army. These and similar cases are, according to the preamble of the Convention, not to be "left to the arbitrary judgment of the military Commanders," but to be regulated by "the usages established between civilised nations," "the laws of humanity," and "the requirements of the public conscience." Moreover the provisions of the Règlement are spoken of as "inspired by the desire to diminish the evils of war, as far as military necessities will permit," thus shewing that the hard exigencies of actual warfare have been taken into account in framing the rules, and therefore cannot be used to justify disregard of them.

5. The Geneva Convention, 1906

Chapter I- The Wounded and Sick

Article 1

Soldiers, and other persons officially attached to armies, shall be respected and taken care of when wounded or sick, by the belligerent in whose power they may be, without distinction of nationality.

Nevertheless, a belligerent who is compelled to abandon sick or wounded to the enemy shall, as far as military exigencies permit, leave with them a portion of his medical personnel and material to contribute to the care of them.

Article 2

Except as regards the treatment to be provided for them in virtue of the preceding Article, the wounded and sick of an army who fall into the hands of the enemy are prisoners of war, and the general provisions of international law concerning prisoners are applicable to them.

Belligerents are, however, free to arrange with one another such exceptions and mitigations with reference to sick and wounded prisoners as they may judge expedient; in particular they will be at liberty to agree

To restore to one another the wounded left on the field after a battle;

To repatriate any wounded and sick whom they do not wish to retain as prisoners, after rendering them fit for removal or after recovery;

To hand over to a neutral State, with the latter's consent, the enemy's wounded and sick to be interned by the neutral State until the end of hostilities.

Article 3

After each engagement the Commander in possession of the field shall take measures to search for the wounded, and to insure protection against pillage and maltreatment both for the wounded and for the dead.

He shall arrange that a careful examination of the bodies is made before the dead are buried or cremated.

Article 4

Each belligerent shall send as soon as possible to the authorities of the country or army to which they belong the military identification marks or tokens found on the dead, and a nominal roll of the wounded or sick who have been collected by him.