International Law

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Oppenheim's work upon the revision of this volume was unfinished when he died; but most of the material had already been collected, and many passages rewritten. He intended, as he once told me, to introduce the events of the war when they illustrated, extended, or challenged general principles hitherto accepted. But for the history of the war he would have relied on his friend Garner's International Law and the World War, which he had already read in manuscript. By kindly lending me the proofs of that book (since published). Professor Gamer has enabled me to make frequent references to it according to the author's plan.<br><br>The war has involved changes in this volume; yet they are surely fewer than might have been expected. So Oppenheim felt; and some notes intended for this preface show with what force he would have argued against the prevalent impression that the war has made an end of the laws of war. Confronted with the many brutal violations of these laws which marred the struggle, he would have argued that in almost every case the offender felt constrained either to deny the charge or to plead justification.