On the record
Its effect is to enable the Government to prohibit and punish, from abundant caution, many acts on the part of its subjects for which it would incur no international liability.
Said by
Thomas Erskine Holland
Source
gutenberg.orgEditor's note · Context
Holland explains that the legislation allows the government to prevent actions by its subjects that could lead to international liability.
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More from Thomas Erskine Holland
It is surely desirable that henceforth Great Britain should know, and that other nations should at least have the means of knowing, for certain, whether she is at war or at peace.
But I go further, and think the softening of manners can alone bring about this result, which cannot be attained by a codification of the law of war.
What neutral States would ever take up arms for the sole reason that, two Powers being at war, the 'laws of war' had been violated by one or both of the belligerents?
The progress of civilisation should have the effect of alleviating as much as possible the calamities of war.
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