Présentation - Hague Convention XIII 1907

i n t r o d u c t i o n

Convention (XIII) concerning the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers in Naval War. The Hague, 18 October 1907.

General title

Second Peace Conference of The Hague, 1907.

Forum of adoption

International Peace Conference 1907

Entry into force

26.01.1910

The law of neutrality was mainly developed during the 19th century. The most important factors in its development were the two Armed Neutralities of 1780 and 1800, the attitude of the United States towards neutrality, the permanent neutrality of Switzerland and Belgium and the Declaration of Paris of 1856. At the Second Hague Peace Conference the subject seemed to be ready for codification. In spite of being to a large extent declaratory of existing international law, the two Conventions on neutrality concluded at The Hague were not ratified by Great Britain, Italy and some other States. Apart from the two conventions other Conventions concluded in 1907 are also important for the law of neutrality, particularly the Convention (VII) relating to the Conversion of Merchant Ships into War-Ships, the Convention (XI) relative to Certain Restrictions with regard to the Exercise of the Right of Capture in Naval War and the Convention (XII) relative to the Creation of an International Prize Court. Furthermore, the unratified Declaration of London of 1909 contained the most important rules concerning neutrality in naval war. As a consequence of the two World Wars, the prohibition of the resort to war and the systems of collective security established by the League of Nations and the United Nations, the traditional law of neutrality has lost much of its former importance.

Meetings of forum

15.06.1907 - 18.10.1907, The Hague

Dade of adoption

18.10.1907

Depositary

Netherlands

Number of articles

Authentic text

French

Source

D.Schindler and J.Toman, The Laws of Armed Conflicts, Martinus Nihjoff Publisher, 1988, pp.951-957.

Keywords

NAVAL WARFARE; NEUTRALITY; TERRITORIAL SOVEREIGNTY; TERRITORIAL SEA; PORT; SHIP; RIGHTS; OBLIGATIONS; NEUTRAL STATE; INTERNATIONAL ARMED CONFLICT; PROHIBITION; CAPTURE; ANGARY; PRIZE; WARSHIP