Limitative principles of the war:i nassociable rules of belligerent act

Abstract

The objective of this article is a bibliographical research regarding the principles and influences of the International Law of the Armed Conflicts on the autonomy of the military commanders in the conduction of the hostilities during an armed conflict. In other words, it examines the existence of limits at war from the legal and principles points of view. The bibliographical revision is based on the analysis of devices of the main Conventions of Hague and Geneva, as well as its Additional Protocols. Besides, it’s imperious to analyze the position of important authors, mainly: Mello, Pessoa, Swinarski and Akehurst. To delimit the central question, it’s necessary to collect and discuss the most important principles and to evaluate the way they inform the international regulation. The main concept concerns the Military Necessity Principle and the Humanity Principle, as well as the relationship between them. The resultant conclusions corroborate the existence of restrictions in the hostilities imposed by the Conventions cited above that, in turn, are inspired by all principles studied. The article also reiterates that the rules of the two more important principles, above cited, are interrelated and had to function in balance. Finally, it is verified that some relativity permeates the subject, and concrete cases of the battlefield have to be evaluated separately.