law of war
Armed conflict regulations
The law of war comprises the legal rules governing armed conflict between nations or groups.
These include the Geneva Conventions and related treaties regulating treatment of prisoners, protection of civilians, and prohibited weapons.
The laws of war distinguish lawful combatants from unlawful ones.
- combatantsThose engaged in warfare
- military necessityWartime justification for action
- neutralityState of taking sides
- Hague ConventionsInternational laws of warfare
- hostilitiesActive armed fighting
chivalry · civilian · proportionality · Geneva Convention · peace treaties · armed conflict · Red Cross · rules of engagement · white flag · military ethics · ceasefire agreements · disarmament · human shields · collective punishment · military tribunals · distinction · civilian casualties · peacekeeping operations
- international lawtreaty, treaties, conventions, protocols, declarations
- natural lawnatural rights, natural justice, natural order, right to life, Aquinas
- peacemakingnegotiation, mediation, peace agreement, mediate, pacifying
- military trainingfield manual, drill instructor, training manual, combat drills, drilling
law of wardomestic law
A nation's internal rules
civil law · criminal law · commercial law · constitutional law · administrative law
law of warlawlessness
Absence of governing rules
anarchy · law of the jungle · barbarism · savagery · impunity
law of wartotal war
Conflict engaging entire nations
scorched earth policy · genocide · ethnic cleansing · war crimes · crimes against humanity
law, laws, lawful, lawfully, unlawful, unlawfully, lawless, lawlessness, lawyer