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THE RISE OF THE RULE OF LAW 151 INTSOORTTEAJVKUEESNTAGIECL,EIFE THE ABOLITION OF THE DEATH PENALTY (1863) IN CONTEXT H istorically, the death executions grew, but it was slow penalty is the ultimate to take hold. While the Republic FOCUS punishment, seen as both of Venezuela abolished the death Criminal law a deterrent and a just method of penalty in 1863, by 1900, just three retribution. The first recorded countries had followed suit. Today, BEFORE capital punishment laws are there is a steady shift away from 1764 Cesare Beccaria argues found in the Code of Hammurabi capital punishment; more than that there is no justification for (c. 1750 bce), which imposed death 100 countries have abolished it the state to take a life. for 25 crimes in ancient Babylon. entirely and others have partially By the 18th century, more than abolished it or barely use it, but more 1794 Pennsylvania is the 200 crimes were punishable by death than 50 nations (including the US) first US state to limit crimes in Britain, and public executions still retain the death penalty. ■ punishable by the death were a spectacle across Europe. penalty to first-degree murder. [It] seems so absurd to Those in favor of the death me that the laws … 1852 Rhode Island is the first penalty often invoked the ancient to dissuade citizens US state to abolish the death principle of lex talionis (law of from murder, order penalty for all crimes. retaliation)—“an eye for an eye.” a public murder. This form of retaliatory justice Cesare Beccaria AFTER argues that the punishment should 1969 The death penalty is mirror the crime, so that anyone Italian jurist, politician, and abolished in Britain, but two- taking a life should lose their own. philosopher (1738–1794) thirds of the Commonwealth The counterargument against the retain it. death penalty emerged with the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th 1977 In France, lawyer Robert century, when philosophers argued Badinter convinces a jury not that executions were themselves a to execute child murderer legitimized form of murder. Patrick Henry. Support for the abolitionist 1981 France abolishes the argument against the inhumanity death penalty, passing a bill and hypocrisy of state-sanctioned proposed by Badinter as Minister of Justice. See also: The trial of Charles I 96–97 ■ The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 222–229 ■ The European Convention on Human Rights 230–233

152 IN CONTEXT EHVAESNRWULAERS FOCUS International law THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS (1864, 1906, 1929, 1949) BEFORE 1337–1453 During the Hundred Years’ War, Richard II and Henry V of England and Charles VII of France each try to codify military discipline. 1863 Abraham Lincoln adopts the Lieber Code on the ethical treatment of civilians during the Civil War. AFTER 1977 Two protocols are added to the Geneva Conventions; one covers internal conflicts. 1998 The Rome Statute agrees to establish the International Criminal Court in The Hague, in the Netherlands. 1999 Yugoslav president Slobodan Miloševic´ is the first sitting head of state to be charged with war crimes. T he Geneva Conventions comprise four treaties adopted between 1864 and 1949 and are based on the principle of public international law that is applicable to armed conflicts. The Conventions lay out a minimum standard for the humane treatment of both combatants and civilians who become victims of war to ensure that life is respected. The idea for an internationally adopted set of rules to prevent suffering during war was first proposed in 1862 by Henry Dunant, a Swiss businessman. Dunant had traveled to northern Italy to request water rights for a business venture from Napoleon III of France, who

THE RISE OF THE RULE OF LAW 153 See also: The Peace of Westphalia 94–95 ■ The Hague Conventions 174–177 ■ The United Nations and International Court of Justice 212–219 ■ The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 222–229 ■ The International Criminal Court 298–303 was engaged in the Second War of in Geneva in October that year. Henry Dunant Italian Independence. By chance, Delegates from 16 states and four Dunant arrived just as the Battle philanthropic organizations took Born in Geneva in 1828, Henry of Solferino, one of the bloodiest part. They adopted initial Dunant devoted much of his battles of the 19th century, was resolutions on the humanitarian life to humanitarian issues. In coming to an end. Almost 5,000 treatment of wounded combatants. 1859, while traveling in Italy, soldiers are known to have died, he witnessed the terrible with more than 23,000 wounded First Geneva Convention aftermath of the Battle of and many others missing. The In 1864, at another Geneva Solferino. Horrified by the suffering and neglect on the conference, the earlier resolutions treatment of the injured, he battlefield affected Dunant so were adopted as the First Geneva campaigned for the creation strongly, he was inspired to write Convention for the Amelioration of of a neutral body to help those A Memory of Solferino, in which he the Condition of the Wounded in wounded on the battlefield. not only described the horrors of Armies in the Field, which was His work led to the creation of war but also proposed suggestions later abbreviated to the First the International Committee as to what he saw as the solution— Geneva Convention. Its key of the Red Cross and the First an international, volunteer-led provisions were: protection from Geneva Convention in 1864. group to take care of the wounded. capture of all injured and sick soldiers; impartial treatment of all Later, Dunant became Dunant’s clarion calls for an captured combatants; protection bankrupt and was shunned by international body to protect the for all civilians providing aid to the Genevan society, but that did victims of war led the Société wounded; and recognition of the not stop him from continuing genevoise d’utilité publique symbol of the red cross on a white to campaign on humanitarian (Geneva Society for Public Welfare) background as identifying people issues, including the idea for a to appoint a committee of five, and equipment covered by the ❯❯ universal international library including Dunant, to explore and the codification of rules whether this idea was viable. At the Battle of Solferino in 1859, concerning prisoners of war. The group met for the first time many wounded and dying soldiers After some years in obscurity, in Geneva early in 1863 as the were shot or bayonetted to death rather Dunant was recognized in International Relief Committee than receiving medical treatment as 1901 as the first recipient of for Injured Combatants (IRCIC). they lay on the battlefield. the Nobel Peace Prize, yet died The IRCIC convened a conference in poverty in 1910. Key work 1862 A Memory of Solferino

154 THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS The Lieber Code Abraham Lincoln in 1863 and and genocide on an unprecedented was the first modern codification scale: 6 million Jews died in the Henry Dunant was not the first of the laws of conflict. It was Holocaust, and up to 11 million to see the need for a code of legally binding and not merely other civilians and prisoners of conduct for the battlefield. issued as advice. war died under Nazi rule. Although Francis Lieber was a German– the worst offender, Germany was American academic who had The Lieber Code explicitly far from alone among nations in fought for Prussia during the banned “taking no quarter” ignoring the Geneva Conventions. Napoleonic Wars and was (which amounted to killing injured at the Battle of Waterloo prisoners of war). It also The barbarity of World War II in 1815. During the Civil War emphasized the need to treat demonstrated that the existing (1861–1865), he became aware civilians in an ethical and Conventions were not strong of the mistreatment of civilians, humane fashion. Although it enough. The war crimes had been spies, and escaped slaves was not always adhered to, so abhorrent that they damaged the and saw the need for a code it served as a blueprint for the entire international community. of ethics. The Lieber Code Hague Conventions of 1899 and The ICRC was the driving force was adopted by President 1907, and was the inspiration for behind extending protection to most later war regulations. cover civilians and toughening up agreement. By the end of 1867, the enforcement of the Conventions. all the key European powers had in 1929, extended the provisions Its proposals were adopted at an ratified the agreement, and the again, notably to include the fair International Red Cross Conference United States signed up in 1882. treatment of prisoners of war. in Stockholm in 1948. The IRCIC body was renamed the International Committee of the Red World War II’s impact The following year, the Fourth Cross (ICRC) in 1875. It became the Despite being a signatory to the Geneva Convention was adopted at neutral body that actively assisted Convention of 1929, the German a conference in Geneva attended by the wounded on the battlefield. state was responsible for horrific delegates from 64 nations. Whereas acts within civilian concentration In 1899, delegates from 26 camps and military prison camps Among those incarcerated at the nations met in The Hague, in before and during World War II Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz the Netherlands, and agreed to (1939–1945). These abuses included in World War II were 230,000 children. strengthen international law torture, human experimentation, Mostly Jews, more than 1.1 million covering the conduct of warfare. men, women, and children died here. The delegates adopted the Hague Convention, which was largely based on the Lieber Code. The Hague Convention incorporated the First Geneva Convention; agreed to establish a Permanent Court of Arbitration; and extended protection to cover marked hospital ships, shipwrecked soldiers, and combatants at sea. In 1906, the Swiss government arranged a conference of 35 states to adopt a Second Geneva Convention. This further extended protection for those captured or wounded in battle and recommended the repatriation of prisoners of war (which finally became mandatory in 1949). The Third Geneva Convention, adopted

THE RISE OF THE RULE OF LAW 155 Noncombatants are Combatants are often often casualties of war. treated badly when injured or imprisoned. The Second World War has shown that the Geneva People realize that this is morally abhorrent. Conventions would be incomplete if they did not also ensure the safety of civilian populations. Max Petitpierre Swiss politician (1899–1994) previous Conventions had concerned The Red Cross is Legally binding themselves almost entirely with established to provide international conventions combatants, the scope in 1949 was practical relief for casualties are established to safeguard much broader, in that the delegates considered the treatment of civilians. of war worldwide. combatants and They adopted provisions, or articles, noncombatants. covering the treatment of the sick and wounded, children, and workers; International humanitarian law is repatriation; a ban on imprisonment recognized as a universal principle. without trial; and the maintenance of medical and hospital services. indiscriminate attacks on civilians, of property not justified by military cultural artifacts, places of worship, necessity; compelling a prisoner of Article 3 of the Convention is and the natural environment. The war to serve in the forces of a hostile considered especially important other extends the scope of protection power; the denial of a fair trial for a because it covers “conflicts not of an during “internal” conflicts to include prisoner of war; unlawful transfer or international character.” It stipulates those fighting occupation, colonial confinement; and hostage-taking. that those taking no active part in rule, or racist regimes. Any conflict hostilities are always to be treated between signatory nations when Modern challenges humanely and prohibits the torture no war has been declared is also In recent years, as terrorism has of prisoners, the taking of hostages, included in the protocols. become more common, some and sentencing without due process. commentators have asked why The international community states should comply with the Updating the Conventions is obliged to locate and bring to trial Geneva Conventions when terrorists The Fourth Geneva Convention those responsible for war crimes, expressly flout them. This facet of entered into force in 1950 and which are the most serious breaches modern conflict in particular has became the basis of international of the Geneva Conventions. In 2002, made the Conventions even more humanitarian law. It has been the International Criminal Court was difficult to enforce. The ICRC is ratified by 196 countries to date, established in The Hague to deal carefully addressing how they making it universally applicable. with these crimes, which can be can be better applied in these In 1977, two additional protocols summarized as: wilful killing; challenging new situations. ■ were added to supplement the torture; the extensive destruction Geneva Conventions. One prohibits

156 IN CONTEXT OWTHFOEERVRKEIEGRRHYTS FOCUS Employment law THE TRADE UNION ACT (1871) BEFORE 1799, 1800 The Combination Acts passed during the Napoleonic Wars make strike action illegal in Britain. 1824 UK Parliament repeals the Combination Acts as the power of trade unions grows. 1868 The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is established in Manchester, in the UK. AFTER 1886 The American Federation of Labor (AFL), a national federation of craft unions, is founded in Ohio. 1900 The UK Labour Party is established. 1901 The first international trade union organization is established. 1906 The Trade Disputes Act is passed in the UK. K ey legislation passed in the UK in the late 19th and early 20th centuries helped protect trade unions and, as a consequence, shifted the balance of power somewhat in favor of workers and away from employers. Those who established the first trade unions believed that any worker–employer negotiation is heavily weighted in favor of the employers because they have the economic power and influence. Unless there is a severe skills shortage, the individual worker has very little bargaining power and therefore can easily be

THE RISE OF THE RULE OF LAW 157 See also: The Lex Mercatoria 74–77 ■ Hadley v. Baxendale 148–149 ■ The Workers’ Accident Insurance System 164–167 ■ The Sherman Antitrust Act 170–173 ■ The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire 180–183 The Industrial Revolution draws hundreds of thousands of workers into new factories. Has not the working Factory workers are paid New machines man as much right to badly and work long hours. replace skilled artisans. preserve and protect his labor as the rich man has his capital? George Loveless Tolpuddle Martyr (1797–1874) Workers begin to organize themselves into unions, using collective action to make demands. exploited. Trade unions were Frederic Harrison’s Minority Report argues that formed to redress this disparity trade unions should not be prosecuted for acts that would by creating organized groups of workers to collectively bargain be legal if they were committed by an individual. with their employer. The legal status of trade unions is From the 17th century, groups protected by the 1871 Trade Union Act. of skilled workers began forming small trade unions in Britain. unions and dissuaded many mostly loose groupings of skilled In the 18th century, as the effects workers from joining. Although the tradespeople who, in order to join, of the Industrial Revolution began Combination Acts were repealed were required to resign some to be felt, with machines and in 1824, a number of punitive laws of their individual bargaining factories replacing handmade against trade unions still existed, rights in favor of collective goods, disputes between factory and in 1834, six agricultural interests. British courts saw this owners and workers became more workers who formed a trade union as restraining individual freedom common. As a result of this in the Dorset village of Tolpuddle of contract, which was unlawful disaffection, more trade unions were arrested and transported to and therefore made trade union were formed. The government saw Australia as punishment. The case rules unenforceable in practice. these workers’ movements as a of the “Tolpuddle Martyrs,” as they threat to the economic order. came to be known, reflected the However, as the economy government’s continued hostility picked up in the 1850s and 1860s, Early challenges toward trade unions. and railway workers and engineers Britain’s first major strike was that became increasingly important to of the weavers of Calton, Scotland, An additional challenge to the continued industrialization of the who withdrew their labor in protest trade unions came from the country, trade unions began to gain at a pay cut. The strike was broken civil courts. Trade unions were strength once again, pressing for ❯❯ only when soldiers shot six weavers dead. The Combination Acts of 1799 and 1800 served to make strike action illegal, which hampered the burgeoning trade

158 THE TRADE UNION ACT In industrial cities such as Sheffield, UK, thousands of workers were at the mercy of unscrupulous employers in the 19th century. Trade unions sought to give them greater collective strength. better working conditions and championed by lawyer and historian for better working conditions. But collecting funds for members in Frederic Harrison, argued for trade it was not until 1886 that the first distress. At this time, two incidents unions to get legal protection from national trade union, the American brought the legal status of trade criminal and restraint-of-trade laws. Federation of Labor (AFL), was unions into focus. The first was established. In Germany, trade the case of Hornby v. Close (1867), Global movement unionism was initially suppressed in which it was ruled that because Toward the end of the 19th century, by Otto von Bismarck’s anti- a trade union restrains competition, as the Industrial Revolution gathered socialist laws, but once these had it cannot be protected from pace beyond Britain, trade unions been repealed, the Free Association embezzlement by the laws that began gaining strength across the of German Trade Unions was apply to friendly societies (mutual globe. In the United States, craft established in 1897. Similarly in associations formed for cooperative guilds had existed on a local level France, the formation of trade unions banking). This meant that trade since the 18th century, and labor was illegal until 1884, after which unions were at great risk of having reform movements sprang up from time they flourished. The growth their funds stolen by untrustworthy the 1860s onward to campaign in trade unions was reflected by members. The second incident the creation of the International was a spate of violence in Sheffield Secretariat of National Trade Union carried out by trade unionists Centres (ISNTUC) in 1901, the first against nonunion members. global trade union body, which helped to develop and support new As a result of these two union federations around the world. incidents, in 1867, the government set up the Royal Commission on Legalizing trade unions Trade Unions to investigate their In the UK, the Liberal government legal status but could not agree of William Gladstone opted for on an outcome. A Majority Report Harrison’s Minority Report and offered little in the way of legal pushed forward with the 1871 changes, but a Minority Report, During the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 in the United States, more than 100,000 workers fought for the right to organize in a trade union. The strike was broken by soldiers and police.

THE RISE OF THE RULE OF LAW 159 The 1889 London Dock Strike A labor leader addresses dockers By the 1880s, unskilled British included in the action and it is during the London dockworkers’ manual workers were becoming estimated that up to 130,000 strike of 1889. increasingly dissatisfied with poor went on strike, bringing the pay, dangerous working conditions, docks to a standstill for 5 weeks. and long hours. Trade unions had As a result of this mass previously largely only represented industrial action, the dock skilled workers but low-skilled owners agreed to the majority of workers saw the power of the workers’ demands, thereby collective bargaining and they bringing the strike to a close. too began to organize. The success of the dockers’ strike inspired many more In 1889, dockworkers in London unskilled workers to join trade went on strike over pay, demanding unions, swelling their collective a rate of sixpence an hour (known membership in the UK to over as the “docker’s tanner”). All 2 million by 1899. levels of dockworkers were Trade Union Act. This mitigated the Criminal Law Amendment Act— be held liable. The judge disagreed common law of restraint of trade (any its repeal in 1875 handed back to and ruled against the ASRS, action that prevents free competition workers the power to strike. meaning that unions could now in the market), which had previously be sued for taking strike action. made trade union rules impossible to In 1901, however, the Taff Vale As a result, unions could no longer enforce. Although the Trade Union Railway Company of South Wales afford to strike. Act secured the legal status of trade took the Amalgamated Society of unions and protected their funds Railway Servants (ASRS) to court The Trade Disputes Act from embezzlement, this did not after the railway workers went on Many workers, who felt that the Taff mean the government supported strike for better pay and union Vale judgment was unfair, joined industrial action—it also passed recognition. The employers the recently formed Labour Party, the Criminal Law Amendment Act, demanded compensation for the and between 1900 and 1906, the which made picketing illegal. Trade days lost to the strike, but the ASRS number of Labour MPs rose from unions were now legal, but anyone argued that as a trade union it 2 to 29. The 1906 general election taking industrial action could still be was neither a corporation nor an returned a Liberal government and legally penalized, leaving them as individual and therefore could not many more Labour MPs, who had vulnerable to prosecution as before. campaigned to overturn the ruling. The purposes of any As a result, the Trade Disputes Act Other changes were taking place, trade union shall not … be was passed in 1906—trade unions however. In 1867, 1 million working- deemed to be unlawful so could no longer be sued for taking class men won the right to vote, and as to render any member of strike action. They flourished in the 1874 election saw two working such trade union liable to the UK until the 1980s, when a men elected to Parliament for the Conservative government, hostile first time. Now that they had a criminal prosecution. to the trade unions, reduced their political voice, working people no Trade Union Act power after the mine workers’ longer had to rely on sympathy from strike of 1984–1985. the liberal middle classes to further their agenda. Growing political Globally, about 350 million activism within the working class workers are organized into trade was echoed in the establishment of unions, but labor rights are under the Trades Union Congress (TUC) pressure as the digital economy sheds in 1868. The TUC quickly grew in unskilled workers and global trade membership, and one of its first relies greatly on cheap, unregulated campaigns was to lobby against the labor in the developing world. ■

160 OTAHRFEEANBTORRRAENDEICCHNESATIONS SCANDINAVIAN COOPERATION (1872) IN CONTEXT T he Scandinavian or Nordic countries of FOCUS Sweden, Denmark, and Legislative harmonization Norway have fostered cooperation in the forming of their laws since BEFORE the end of the 19th century, with 11th–13th century Regional Finland and Iceland joining later. laws begin to be codified across This legislative harmony has been Scandinavia—for example, one of the most successful aspects the Gulathing’s law in Norway of Nordic cooperation, serving as a (11th century) and the law of prime example of the benefits of Jutland (1241) in Denmark. comparative law and continuing to produce a number of adopted AFTER statutes each year. 1880 The first joint Nordic law on bills of exchange is issued. Scandinavian solidarity King Christian V of Denmark and Historically, there has always been Norway created a similar legal code for 1901 The Nordic Civil Law close interplay between the Nordic each of the two nations—Danish Law Commission is established. nations. Between 1524 and 1814, (1683) and Norwegian Law (1687)— Denmark and Norway were joined based on their existing laws. 1940s Legislative cooperation in a union and, following the efforts among Nordic nations extends of King Christian V, enjoyed a use, but would also recognize the to include criminal law. very similar legal code. Likewise, region’s historical and cultural ties. Sweden and Finland were united In 1872, the Scandinavian nations 1952 The Nordic Council as one country until war with entered into an agreement whereby is established to encourage Russia severed them in 1809. By representative lawyers from each cooperation between the then, however, a feeling of kinship country would meet frequently in parliaments of member nations. existed among the Scandinavian order to find common ground on nations, and it was believed that legislation and the administration 1962 The Helsinki Treaty of unity should be encouraged. of justice. Groups of lawyers or cooperation between Nordic representatives from law schools nations is signed. This pro-Scandinavia feeling was channeled toward creating 1995 Finland and Sweden greater uniformity in Nordic law, as join the European Union. this would not only be of practical

THE RISE OF THE RULE OF LAW 161 See also: The Lex Mercatoria 74–77 ■ The Helsinki Treaty 242–243 Comparative law ■ The World Trade Organization 278–283 The study of different legal Each region in Scandinavia systems by comparing and develops its own provincial laws. contrasting them is known as comparative law. To this end, Feelings of Scandinavia’s legal systems are categorized Scandinavian collective culture and into families, allowing nations kinship grow, partly whose laws have similar in response to external history gives states historical roots to be grouped threats from countries common ground that together. In the era of such as Britain, France, globalization, comparative law makes legislative has become more important as and Russia. cooperation feasible. trade is conducted between countries with different legal Legislative cooperation results in largely systems. This has inspired uniform laws across Nordic states, making it easier calls for greater harmonization of laws worldwide. Likewise, for them to trade with each other. with the formation of the European Union (EU), attempts have since assembled every 3 contract may be set aside). As have been made to achieve years to suggest areas of law on a result, there is now a near- greater legislative cooperation which the Nordic countries might uniform law of contracts across among EU member states. cooperate. Judges, legal scholars, Scandinavia. Even so, the and attorneys then discuss the committee system in which each The rise of comparative practicalities of creating joint idea must be debated among law in the 20th century was legislation on the issue at hand. experts in order to harmonize confirmed in 1924 with the such laws across the region has, creation of the International The focus of the meeting in 1872 at times, proved ineffectual. Academy of Comparative Law was on contract law, and the first in The Hague. The academy suggested piece of legislation was Unified laws can take a long promotes comparative law a unification of the laws on bills of time to be adopted, and sometimes through numerous reports exchange. This legislation was no consensus can be reached—for and international conferences. eventually completed in 1880. instance, when each nation believes Nordic legislative cooperation its own legal precedent is superior is seen as a positive example Nordic Contracts Acts to that of others. However, the of comparative law in action. Contract law proved the most harmonization of laws between fruitful area in which to cooperate, the Nordic states has been largely There exists no “they and from 1915, a series of Nordic successful and has enabled greater and we,” only “us.” Contracts Acts were passed that cooperation and trade. Today, there Solidarity is and created shared legislation regarding is uniform legislation in the fields has to be indivisible. contract formation and voidability of contract, commerce, nationality, Olof Palme (the circumstances in which a and family law. ■ Prime minister of Sweden (1969–1986)

162 BEOVEFILBTHRCEOUKPSEATNSOTMOFSSFHALL THE CHARTER OATH (1868) IN CONTEXT D uring the long Edo Period, 1867. Emperor Meiji came to power Japan’s feudal society was soon after, and the Meiji Restoration FOCUS ruled by a dynastic series ushered in an era of modernization. Constitutional law of shoguns (military dictators). It was an era of economic growth Signaling a new direction BEFORE and stability, but strict laws kept In 1868, statesmen Yuri Kimimasa, 1603 The Edo Period (of rule Japan closed to all foreigners. Fukuoka Takachika, and Kido by the Tokugawa shogunate) By the mid-19th century, many Takayoshi drafted the Charter Oath, begins, closing Japan to Japanese, resentful of the rigid paving the way for the modernizing foreigners for more than feudal system and influenced by of Japan under a parliamentary 250 years. Western ideas, called for the ultra- constitution. The Oath’s five articles conservative regime to modernize. laid out the key aims: to set up 1854 Commodore Matthew deliberative assemblies; break Perry intimidates Japan into In the face of political agitation down feudal systems; allow every allowing some US ships and and armed rebellions, the shogun’s citizen the right to pursue “his own consuls into Japan, paving the grip on power faded; he resigned in calling”; leave behind harmful old way for future trade. customs; and open up Japan to international ideas and trade. 1867 The shogun resigns in favor of Emperor Meiji, ending The Oath is seen as the first the Tokugawa shogunate. constitution of modern Japan and as pivotal as similar charters were AFTER for other nations. Japan was at last 1890 A Japanese parliament, able to move toward a more open called the Diet, becomes the society with an elected parliament. ■ first elected national assembly to be created in Asia. Emperor Meiji proclaimed the Charter Oath, also known as the Imperial Oath, 1946 After Japan’s at his coronation in 1868. Aged 15, he was catastrophic intervention eager to “stand upon a similar footing and defeat in WWII, Emperor with the most enlightened nations.” Hirohito reissues the Charter See also: Magna Carta 66–71 ■ The US Constitution and Bill of Rights 110–117 Oath and states that he is not ■ The Declaration of the Rights of Man 118–119 ■ The Russian Constitution 190–191 a living god.

THE RISE OF THE RULE OF LAW 163 IDBCTEUUITRTSEINOSJOSUTTIASTBTFYLIOFERIABLE, THE “VIVISECTION ACT” (1876) IN CONTEXT D uring a British Medical known as the “Vivisection Act”) Association meeting in being passed in 1876. Anyone FOCUS Norwich in 1874, French carrying out vivisection now would Animal welfare law physiologist Eugene Magnan need a license, and experiments all injected a dog with absinthe to had to be medically justified and BEFORE show the effects of alcohol, and the could no longer be done in public. 1849 The Cruelty to Animals dog died. A prosecution under Act is passed in Britain. the Cruelty to Animals Act by the The Act balanced research Royal Society for the Prevention of needs and animal safety, but both 1871 The British Association Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) failed sides felt it did not go far enough. It for the Advancement of (Magnan had returned to France), was a landmark piece of legislation, Science sets out a moral code but the case gained public support however, as the first in the world to for all those experimenting and proved that existing legislation regulate the use and treatment of on animals in the UK. on vivisection (experiments on live live animals in medical research. ■ animals) was inadequate. 1875 In London, Frances Whether the practice Power Cobbe founds what Scientists and animal cruelty be useful or useless, we is now called the National campaigners supported tighter ask you to reflect whether Anti-Vivisection Society. legislation for opposing reasons: scientists sought protection from it be morally lawful. AFTER prosecution, whereas campaigners Frances Power Cobbe 1966 The Animal Welfare Act wanted to stop cruelty to animals. sets a minimum standard in Irish animal rights activist US federal law of regulating Regulating experimentation (1822–1904) animal welfare. In 1875, a British Royal Commission recommended amending the 1849 1986 The Animals (Scientific Cruelty to Animals Act to cover Procedures) Act regulates the vivisection. When the new bill went use of animals for scientific before Parliament, lobbying by the research in Britain. medical establishment resulted in a watered-down version (commonly 2013 The European Union bans the testing of cosmetics See also: The Cruelty to Animals Act 146–147 ■ The Endangered Species Act on animals. 264–265 ■ The World Network of Biosphere Reserves 270–271 ■ Euthanasia 296–297

164 IN CONTEXT OWTTHHFIEELINLSVDICTCUAATSTRITEMERSFYOR FOCUS Employment law THE WORKERS’ ACCIDENT INSURANCE SYSTEM (1881) BEFORE 1838 In Prussia, legislation is passed that requires railway companies to compensate those injured at work. 1880 The UK Employers’ Liability Act enables some workers to seek compensation for workplace injuries resulting from the negligence of others. AFTER 1897 In the UK, the Workmen’s Compensation Act introduces a system of no-fault compensation for industrial injuries. 1911 Germany expands the workers’ insurance scheme to cover nearly all workers for death, disability, and sickness. 1935 In the US, a system of work-based health insurance is introduced with the Social Security Act. A s the Industrial Revolution accelerated across 19th-century Europe and the US, more and more people moved from farming to employment in manufacturing and construction. The mechanization of agriculture and industry made work more hazardous and injuries increasingly common. Social reformers saw that a system was required to provide compensation for work-related injuries and deaths. From the mid-19th century, in Britain and other industrialized countries, aid organizations called “mutual” or “friendly” societies emerged. These allowed groups

THE RISE OF THE RULE OF LAW 165 See also: The Trade Union Act 156–159 ■ The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire 180–183 ■ Donoghue v. Stevenson 194–195 ■ The Whistleblower Protection Act 274 The Götze & Hartmann engineering steelmaking, rapidly expanded. Otto von Bismarck factory in Saxony, eastern Germany, The rights of workers became a employed at least 2,700 workers by pressing social issue as business Born in 1815, near Berlin, Otto 1870. Highly industrialized, Saxony owners grew increasingly rich, von Bismarck became prime was a hotbed of German socialism. while their employees worked minister of Prussia in 1862, long hours in often dangerous and gained a reputation as an of workers to pay each week into a conditions. Growing unrest among authoritarian leader. He deftly fund that paid out if they became German industrial laborers proved exploited regional rivalries, sick, disabled, or died. The funds fertile ground for the champions annexing territory in Denmark were based on local communities of socialist ideals, such as equal and Germany and provoking or specific workplaces—those who rewards and state protection for war with France to engineer lived or worked in an area that had workers in industry. the 1871 unification of 26 small no mutual society were not covered. states and duchies into the Anyone injured at work who was not Bismarck leads the way German Empire, with Prussia a member of a mutual society could In 1875, German socialists formed at its core. The ruler of the new sue an employer for compensation, the Socialist Workers’ Party (SAP, empire, Wilhelm I, rewarded but only if the victim was wealthy which, 15 years later, became the Bismarck by making him enough to afford a lawyer. Proving Social Democratic Party, SDP). Some Germany’s first chancellor. liability against a large company members of the party supported Karl He became known as the was almost impossible. As a result, Marx’s aim of achieving socialism “Iron Chancellor.” many people injured at work who through revolution. The highly could no longer support their family conservative chancellor of Germany, Bismarck worked to create resorted to begging or were forced Otto von Bismarck, saw this as a a stable Germany with a strong into a public institution, such as a threat to his power, and in 1878, national identity. He achieved workhouse or even a prison. he passed the Anti-Socialist Law, this partly by campaigning which banned any meeting that against the rise of socialism When the German Empire aimed to spread social democratic and also the influence of the was formed in 1871, its heavy views and suppressed socialist ❯❯ Catholic Church. To consolidate industries, such as engineering and the position of Germany against the growing threat of Russia and France, Bismarck negotiated an alliance with Austria-Hungary in 1879. Despite Bismarck’s many efforts to discredit the Social Democrats in Germany, the party won a large number of seats in the 1890 election, and he resigned in disgust. He died at his country estate in 1898.

166 THE WORKERS’ ACCIDENT INSURANCE SYSTEM The power unleashed by the steam hammer, invented by Scottish engineer James Nasmyth in 1838, increased output but also made conditions much more dangerous for industrial workers. advantage of reducing levels of emigration. Fewer Germans now wanted to move to places like the US, because at home they enjoyed greater protection from their state- mandated health insurance. newspapers. The law did not have In 1883, the first piece of legislation Other nations follow suit the intended effect, however, as the was passed. The Health Insurance The German system of workers’ SAP still won nine seats in the Act stated that both employers and protection was widely admired and Reichstag (the German parliament) employees should subscribe to seen as a positive social reform. in the July 1878 election, giving it “sickness funds,” which provided Between 1897 and 1907, a number a continued voice in national affairs. those injured at work with sick pay of European countries, including and the costs of medical treatment Austria, Sweden, and France, To neutralize the popularity of for up to 13 weeks. The employer enacted similar laws. the socialists, Bismarck decided paid one-third of the fund costs; the to champion some radical workers’ employees two-thirds. Contributions In Britain, the growing number protection legislation. In 1881, he to the scheme and benefits paid of work-based accidents led to calls put forward the Workers’ Accident were based on levels of income. from workmen’s associations for Insurance scheme. This obliged a change in the law to protect industrial employers to contribute The Accident Insurance Act, employees. The result was the 1880 to a private insurance scheme that which followed in 1884, covered Employers’ Liability Act, which would pay out to workers in the injured workers beyond 13 weeks. entitled industrial manual workers event of factory accidents. The policy The new funds were financed to compensation for an accident was based on the socialist ideal of entirely by employers, and workers caused by the negligence of a worker protection, although Bismarck no longer had to prove the liability of nonmanual supervisor. However, refuted this, preferring to focus on the company. Instead, a compulsory the worker still had to prove who the economic benefits of increased insurance scheme covered all was responsible for the injury, productivity from a healthy and employment-related injuries. At first, which complicated any claims. obedient workforce. only workers in mines, shipyards, and manufacturing industries could Those who are disabled A system of welfare benefit, but between 1885 and 1901, from work by age and At first, there was opposition to the this was expanded to other areas of invalidity have a well- scheme in the Reichstag, but, after employment, including agriculture, grounded claim to care winning an election in October transportation, and the military. 1881, Bismarck was able to return from the state. to the program. In doing so, he The welfare policy was promoted Wilhelm I would make Germany the first as being of benefit to the German country to create a national workers’ economy, in that it supported a German emperor (1797–1888) welfare system. healthy and productive workforce, but it also conferred the economic

THE RISE OF THE RULE OF LAW 167 Workers are expected to The increased The difficulty and cost take responsibility for mechanization of of proving employers’ the Industrial Revolution their own safety. causes more workplace liability means few injured workers gain accidents. due compensation. State-sanctioned compulsory workers’ The rise of socialism insurance programs make employers prompts new social legally liable for those injured at work. welfare initiatives. The passing of the 1897 Workmen’s down the defense of contributory statewide laws did allow for no-fault Compensation Act rectified this negligence, previously open to compensation; however, they were problem by allowing those injured employers, in which the employee voluntary only, as compulsory at work to receive compensation could be denied payment if their participation laws had been judged so long as they could prove that the actions were deemed to have even unconstitutional. This changed injury occurred on the job. This gave partially contributed to the accident. in 1917, when, in New York Central British workers the same rights as Railroad Co. v. White, the US Supreme those enjoyed by workers in Germany. Soon afterward, individual Court ruled that compulsory states began to introduce workers’ requirements were permitted under American legislation compensation schemes. Wisconsin the US Constitution. US states could The US, like Europe, experienced was the first, in 1911, and over the now compel the creation of workers’ a rise in the number of workplace next decade, the majority of states compensation schemes, and by accidents corresponding to huge followed suit. Unlike FELA, these 1948, all states had introduced industrial growth. In 1898 and 1899, compensation laws whereby American legislators ordered a It is a reproach injured workers no longer had number of inquiries into European to our civilization to demonstrate that the employer accident liability and compensation that any class of was at fault. schemes and concluded that a American workmen, system based on the German model should … be subjected to Although the compensation would be feasible. In 1908, Congress a peril of life and limb system adopted by US states was passed the Federal Employers’ as great as that of a soldier. based on the German scheme, on Liability Act (FELA). It applied only Benjamin Harrison a national level, the US lagged behind to railroad workers but was the first Europe in the provision of universal piece of national legislation based 23rd US president (1889–1893) rights for workers. It was not until on legally entitled compensation for 1935 that the Social Security Act the victims of workplace accidents. introduced an old age pension and workers’ unemployment and Although inspired by the disability benefits. Also, while in German model, FELA differed in Europe the German model developed that it still required the worker to into state-sponsored healthcare, in prove the fault of the employer. the US, a system based on private However, the legislation did water health insurance was preferred. ■

168 KNCOIOLULNLIENDCGEJSUSSITTIFYY THE QUEEN V. DUDLEY AND STEPHENS (1884) IN CONTEXT W hen the Mignonette, A few days later, the surviving a 52-ft (16-m) English men were rescued and transported FOCUS yacht, was wrecked home to Falmouth, on Britain’s Criminal law during a storm around 1,600 miles southwest coast, to be put on trial. (2,575 km) off the Cape of Good BEFORE Hope, South Africa, in July 1884, The story gained substantial 1600s Six English sailors who her crew—Tom Dudley, Edwin coverage in the Victorian press, killed and ate a compatriot, Stephens, Edmund Brooks, and and public opinion was in favor with his agreement, are cabin boy Richard Parker—escaped of acquittal; many were convinced cleared of his murder in the in a lifeboat. After 20 days with that there had been no option but “Saint Christopher case.” very little food and water, in order for the men to kill and eat Parker. to save themselves, Dudley and Due in part to the strength of public 1841 In the US, a court finds Stephens decided to kill and eat opinion, it was felt important that crewman Alexander Holmes Parker, who had fallen into a coma. the trial go ahead and the principle guilty of manslaughter after of necessity be tested. The judge, he threw up to 16 people The Dudley and Stephens case Baron Huddleston, asked the jury overboard to prevent a lifeboat was widely reported in the media. This to return a “special verdict” that from sinking. image, based on a sketch by Stephens would ensure a panel of judges himself, appeared in the Illustrated could make a ruling. They ruled AFTER London News. that there was no common-law 1971 British lawyer and judge defense of necessity in a murder Lord Denning rules that charge and handed down the death “necessity” does not mean penalty, with a recommendation squatters may trespass. for clemency. 2018 A Massachusetts judge Dudley and Stephens served sets a legal precedent when 6 months in prison when their she rules that environmental sentences were commuted by the activists could employ the Crown. This case set the precedent defense of necessity to justify that the killing of an innocent, even their climate-change protest in the event of extreme hunger, has over a fracked gas pipeline. no defense in English law. ■ See also: The Ten Commandments and Mosaic law 20–23 ■ The Lex Rhodia 25 ■ The abolition of the death penalty 151 ■ The exclusionary rule 186–187

THE RISE OF THE RULE OF LAW 169 PWARRHOEEPIRESEROTWUYER THE ST. CATHERINE’S MILLING CASE (1888) IN CONTEXT T he St. Catherine’s Milling … there is no Indian title at case was a landmark in law or in equity. The claim FOCUS the law relating to the The land rights of land rights of Indigenous Peoples of the Indians is simply Indigenous Peoples following colonization. In 1888, the moral and no more. St. Catherine’s Milling and Lumber Oliver Mowat BEFORE Company wanted to cut timber 1763 King George III’s royal around Wabigoon Lake in Ontario, Premier of Ontario (1872–1896) proclamation states that Canada, and obtained a license to Indigenous Peoples have title do so from the federal government. saying that “as heathens and to their land; the Crown must The Ontario government, however, barbarians,” the Indigenous Peoples handle treaties that cede land. claimed that it owned the land had no right of ownership. The where the timber stood, and the Privy Council was more restrained, 1867 The British North company should therefore have saying that Indigenous Peoples’ America Act makes the federal obtained the license from it. The rights were only to use and enjoy government responsible for the case rested on whether a treaty land, not to own it. No Indigenous interests of Indigenous Peoples between the federal government People had the chance to give and their lands in Canada. and the Indigenous Peoples living on evidence in the case. Canadian law the land had transferred ownership now recognizes that Indigenous AFTER of that land. This could only have Peoples have (and had) rights very 1982 The Constitution Act of happened if the Indigenous Peoples similar to ownership rights over Canada recognizes existing had owned the land in the first place. land, but the fight is far from over. ■ Indigenous or treaty rights. The case was heard by four 1992 In Australia, the Mabo courts, eventually reaching the Decision rejects the concept of Privy Council in London, England. terra nullius (“empty land” that Each court held that the land had is not legally owned before it is not been owned by the Indigenous colonized) and grants land title Peoples, but for different reasons. to the people of Murray Island. The trial judge used what is now acknowledged to be racist language, 2010 Canada signs the United Nations Declaration on the See also: Magna Carta 66–71 ■ The Treaty of Tordesillas 86–87 ■ The Peace of Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Westphalia 94–95 ■ The United Nations and International Court of Justice 212–219

170 IN CONTEXT FUCRNOEFMEEPTAETNTEIDTRIEODN FOCUS Commercial law THE SHERMAN ANTITRUST ACT (1890) BEFORE 1776 Scottish economist Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations defines competition as the absence of legal restraint on trade. 1882 Standard Oil combines several companies across the US into one large trust under chairman John D. Rockefeller. 1889 Canada passes the first competition statute, which addresses price fixing and monopolies. AFTER 1890 The McKinley Tariff Act raises import duty to protect American companies from foreign competition. 1911 The US Supreme Court rules that Standard Oil is an illegal monopoly and orders it to break up. I n the United States in the late 19th century, a number of large “trusts” were formed. Trusts are created when business owners combine several different ventures into one overarching company. A trustee (or sometimes multiple trustees) is then appointed to work in the interests of the trust. By creating such bodies, companies are able to band together and collaborate to control the market by fixing prices and restricting competition. This puts a huge amount of power and wealth into the hands of just a few corporations and suppresses competition. One of the most powerful trusts in the US

THE RISE OF THE RULE OF LAW 171 See also: The Lex Mercatoria 74–77 ■ Hadley v. Baxendale 148–149 ■ Salomon v. Salomon & Co. Ltd. 178–179 ■ The Federal Trade Commission 184–185 trusts to work across a number John Sherman of states. Nationwide, federal laws were now required. From Born in 1823, John Sherman 1888, Senator John Sherman of served in both the House Ohio began working on a federal of Representatives and the antitrust law that could curb the Senate and held the positions power of trusts to control the of secretary of the treasury market. The bill went through a and secretary of state. Known number of iterations and revisions, as the “Ohio icicle” due to his and when it was passed in 1890, it cold demeanor, Sherman was retained very little of Sherman’s keenly interested in financial original wording but was still matters, and as a senator named in his honor. he helped redesign the US monetary system after it was America’s first commercial oil well Banning monopolies ravaged by the effects of the was built in Pennsylvania in 1859 and The Sherman Antitrust Act was Civil War (1861–1865). saw the start of an oil boom in the the first federal bill to make anti- country. At the boom’s peak, the city competitive acts illegal, and it In 1884 and 1888, Sherman was producing a third of the world’s oil. forms one of the most important tried for the Republican statutes in US competition law. It presidential nomination but was formed in 1882, when a number ensured that combinations (two or failed to garner sufficient of oil refiners across the country more businesses working together) support. It was said that combined to form the Standard Oil or trusts that restrained trade Sherman’s dislike of his rival trust. This allowed the company to between states or foreign nations for the presidential nomination control the price and supply of oil were outlawed. The Act included Russell A. Alger in part while, at the same time, dodging provisions against price fixing, inspired the creation of his corporate regulations and state- the rigging of bids, or the exclusion antitrust legislation. Alger level taxes. The rise of trusts stifled of competition, and outlawed the had a large interest in the competition and was seen as a bad creation of monopolies. ❯❯ Diamond Match Company, deal for ordinary consumers. which, like Standard Oil, If we will not endure a king was especially hated by Federal legislation as a political power, we the public because it had As the number of American trusts a monopoly over a daily grew in the 1880s, legislators began should not endure a king over necessity: the match. Sherman to see a need to control the situation the production, transportation, saw the Antitrust Act as an and to break up monopolies. (A opportunity to damage Alger. monopoly is a market’s sole supplier and sale of any of the He died at his home in of a specific product.) Several state- necessaries of life. Washington, DC, in 1900. wide antitrust laws were passed, John Sherman but long-distance communications opened up by the telegraph and Speech to US Congress, 1890 rail travel made it easier for large

172 THE SHERMAN ANTITRUST ACT Large trusts work across states, revealing the weaknesses of state-based laws. By forming large trusts, businesses can fix prices and hamper competition. The Sherman Antitrust Act The unfettered success of a few is passed. This federal law large trusts limits consumer choice prevents large corporations from dominating commerce in and undermines public faith in business practices. the United States. The key aim of the Act was to Pipe & Steel Co., the Addyston Pipe the rights to transport substantial protect the core Republican value Company was accused of “working amounts of oil each day in return of free enterprise. However, some in agreement.” Several companies for a huge discount on the transport legal commentators criticized the would band together when work rates. The Supreme Court ruled that lack of detail in the law, pointing was being contracted out, and this violated the Sherman Act “on out that antitrust laws should between them they decided which the ground that it is a combination focus on bad monopolies, not all should bid lowest and therefore win in unreasonable restraint of inter- monopolies. This lack of detail in the tender. By so doing, they were State commerce.” This furthered the the Act ultimately proved beneficial effectively controlling the fee paid concept of “unreasonable restraint” because it allowed the US judiciary for the job. in competition law. As a result of to interpret and enforce it, refining the ruling, Standard Oil was broken its meaning in law. In 1898, in the The Supreme Court judged up into 34 smaller companies, case of United States v. Addyston that Addyston Pipe and Steel was putting an end to its monopoly. restraining trade. This set the Every person who shall “rule of reason” precedent, whereby Upgrading the Act monopolize … any part of only those restraints of trade that The Sherman Act contained the trade or commerce among are deemed “unreasonable” are several loopholes that related the several States, or with considered a violation of the to anti-competitive mergers foreign nations, shall be Sherman Act. Reasonable restraint and acquisitions. Additionally, of trade would apply to a company Congress was concerned that by guilty of a felony. that had created a monopoly leaving the definition of “reasonable Sherman Antitrust Act, through building a superior product restraint of trade” loose, it required or technology; such an action the courts to repeatedly make Section 2 would not break antitrust laws. decisions on a case-by-case basis. As a result, in 1914, Congress Standard Oil amended the Sherman Act with The power of the Sherman Antitrust the Clayton Act. One of the key Act was again used in 1911 to force measures of the Clayton Act was the breakup of Standard Oil, which to tighten up the laws for mergers at that time controlled 90 percent and acquisitions, legislating of the United States’ oil production. against mergers that would hamper Standard Oil had struck deals with competition and create a monopoly. rail companies, guaranteeing them

THE RISE OF THE RULE OF LAW 173 The Federal Trade Commission is based in Washington, DC. It moved to its headquarters in 1938, and the building is famed for its Art Deco sculptures and reliefs. At the same time, the Federal of Rome created the European The high-profile case may not have Trade Commission Act was Economic Community (as the affected Microsoft’s dominance, but passed, widening the scope of European Union was initially competition in the shape of Mozilla competition law to ban “unfair known). With the founding of Firefox and Google Chrome saw methods of competition” and the Common Market in 1992, it Microsoft lose its market majority. unfair acts that affect commerce. became necessary to make sure Some argued that this proved that This was designed to protect roughly the same competitive the market corrects itself, making the consumer by making sure opportunities existed throughout antitrust laws redundant. However, businesses did not make false Europe, adopting regulations that the continued growth of large claims about their products or applied across all member states technology firms such as Google mislead the consumer. The Act of the European Union. and Facebook has raised fresh also established the Federal Trade questions over digital monopolies Commission to regulate business The validity of existing antitrust and the need for more regulation. ■ and oversee antitrust law and made legislation came under scrutiny it clear that any violation of the in 1998, when the US Department When Microsoft fell foul of American Sherman Act would also violate the of Justice (DOJ) filed antitrust antitrust laws in 1998 over bundling its Federal Trade Commission Act. charges against Microsoft. The web browser with its operating system, DOJ argued that the way in the company argued they were both The historic Sherman Act, which Microsoft bundled its web part of the same product. Clayton Act, and Federal Trade browser Internet Explorer into its Commission Act continue to form operating system made it difficult the cornerstone of US antitrust for consumers to run other browsers laws today and have proved a on a Windows computer. This, they blueprint for effective competition stated, was effectively a monopoly laws across the globe. Europe did that hampered fair competition. not collectively tackle competition laws until 1957, when the Treaty Digital dominance The DOJ eventually won its case, Though American and Microsoft was ordered to split businessmen may into two companies. However, on sometimes complain about appeal the ruling was amended, the interpretation or and the company was allowed administration of [antitrust] to stay whole. laws, we know that—like spinach—they are good for us. Henry Ford II American businessman (1917–1987)

174 IN CONTEXT ROTAHINFGEDWHLDTAASURW,TISE,S FOCUS International law THE HAGUE CONVENTIONS (1899, 1907) BEFORE 1863 The Lieber Code sets out rules of conduct for the military during the Civil War. 1864 The first Geneva Convention protects the wounded and noncombatants during conflict. 1868 The St. Petersburg Declaration proscribes the use of certain types of weapons. AFTER 1954 The Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property is signed, focusing solely on the protection of cultural heritage during war. 1993 The UN approves the Chemical Weapons Convention, which outlaws the production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons. T he Hague Conventions were the first international treaties laying out the customs and rules of warfare. They were agreed on at international peace conferences convened in The Hague in the Netherlands in 1899 and 1907. The background to the agreements was the increasingly brutal and far-reaching scope of war in the 19th and early 20th century. The balance of power across Europe and beyond had been destabilized. As nation- states grew, they vied for territory, raw materials, and trade. Nations assembled powerful armed forces, and an armaments race developed, particularly involving Britain,

THE RISE OF THE RULE OF LAW 175 See also: The Geneva Conventions 152–155 ■ The Nuremberg trials 202–209 ■ The United Nations and International Court of Justice 212–219 ■ The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 222–229 ■ The International Criminal Court 298–303 During the The Lieber Code and New, more 19th century, the first Geneva Convention of powerful warships European powers jostle for military 1864 reflect the growing need and weapons supremacy. for international agreement on are developed, including automatic military conduct in wartime. machine guns. The Hague Conventions create Peace movements calling for an internationally recognized set disarmament and international cooperation grow in strength. of rules for war and limit the use of dangerous weapons. France, Germany, and Russia. from 15 nations, was to find a way conference laid the foundations for Under Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898), of restoring the fragile balance of the later development of international newly unified Germany adopted power in Europe and define terms humanitarian law at the Hague militarism—the idea that a state of engagement for future warfare. Peace Conference in 1899. should use its armies to aggressively It adopted codes that covered the advance its national interests. obligations of occupying powers; Because Britain, Germany, and defined who should be recognized Spain did not wish to be bound First steps as combatants; established rules by the Brussels Declaration, it was In 1863, during the Civil War (1861– for bombardments and sieges; and not ratified. After this failure, the 1865), President Abraham Lincoln stated the duty of nations to treat Institute of International Law (IIA), issued the Lieber Code, the first prisoners of war humanely. The which had been founded in 1873, attempt to establish the rules of studied the draft agreement and ❯❯ war. The Code was formulated by political philosopher Francis Lieber and was widely admired. In the aftermath of the bloody Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, the Code inspired Czar Alexander II of Russia to hold a conference of European states in Brussels in 1874 to draft an international version. The aim of the conference, which was attended by representatives The Battle of Fort Wagner was one of many bloody episodes in the Civil War. It was fought in 1863, the same year that President Lincoln issued the Lieber Code.

176 THE HAGUE CONVENTIONS came up with additional proposals. heads of state believed that limits Waging war we understand, The IIA included these in The should be placed on the most but not waging peace, Laws of War on Land, a manual destructive weapons. or at any rate less that was approved at a conference consciously so. in Oxford in 1880. Although it It was against this backdrop that Fredrik Bajer believed that an international the first Hague Conference was treaty was unrealistic at the time, proposed by Czar Nicholas II of Honorary president of the it appealed to governments to Russia. Convened in The Hague in International Bureau of Peace adopt the codes as national law. 1899, it was attended by delegates The Lieber Code and The Laws of from 26 nations. The main aims of the (1837–1922) War on Land laid the groundwork for conference were to control the arms the creation of a truly international race and negotiate disarmament, between states. More than 50 codification of the rules of war. codify the rules of war, and find a way nations ratified the first Hague to peacefully resolve international Convention and, alongside the Multilateral agreement disputes without resorting to war. Geneva Conventions, it served As the arms race accelerated, as the foundation of international particularly between Britain and Although it failed to adopt a humanitarian law. Germany toward the end of the program for disarmament, the 19th century, so peace movements conference ratified three treaties A further conference was called gained wider support. In 1891, the and some additional declarations— by US president Theodore Roosevelt International Peace Bureau was together, these formed the first in 1904, but it had to be delayed formed. Based in Berne, Switzerland, of the Hague Conventions. They due to the war between Russia it campaigned for world peace included important rules on and Japan. It was finally convened and promoted arbitration and the conduct of war, forbidding the in 1907, when 43 states met. No disarmament. The development of execution of surrendered enemy major changes were made to the modern, more deadly weaponry had combatants; the use of projectiles provisions of the 1899 Convention, changed the nature of conflict, and containing poison gas; the launch but they were improved to peace campaigners and even some of explosives from balloons; the incorporate warfare at sea, for use of bullets that expand in the Delegates at the first Hague Peace body (dumdums); and attacks on Conference included representatives undefended towns or villages. from China, France, Germany, the Russian Federation, Great Britain, The conference also agreed Spain, and the United States. to create the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. This was the first international institution to provide legal solutions for disputes

THE RISE OF THE RULE OF LAW 177 example. The British attempted cities, and the widespread torture The German city of Dresden in to secure a limitation on naval and execution of prisoners of war. The ruins after heavy bombing raids in 1945 armaments, but Germany rejected United States, Soviet Union (USSR), destroyed its historic center—including this proposal. Although the Hague UK, and France oversaw the many sites of cultural value—and killed Conventions were the first establishment of the Nuremberg about 25,000 residents. multilateral treaties to clarify the trials in 1945–1946. These military rules of war, they were seriously tribunals applied the provisions of Pact had been adopted by the flawed. In particular, neither of the Hague Conventions to try and Pan-American Union in 1935, but them laid out specific penalties sentence the political, military, the devastation of World War II for states that violated them. Until judicial, and economic leadership reinforced the need for an the creation of the International of Nazi Germany. international treaty to protect Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague cultural property. in 2002, it was up to individual The rules of the Hague states to prosecute for breaches of Conventions are now considered to The 1954 Convention has since the Conventions, but states might be binding on all states, even if they been ratified by 133 states and is be unable or unwilling to prosecute. have not directly signed up to them. overseen by the United Nations Although the Conventions had been Educational, Scientific and Cultural Two world wars blatantly flouted during both world Organization (UNESCO). In 1996, A third peace conference was wars, the international community four nongovernmental organizations planned for 1914, but it was delayed recognized the value of international established the International indefinitely due to the outbreak of systems of law. This created a space Committee of the Blue Shield, World War I. The war resulted in for diplomacy and new international which is the cultural equivalent many catastrophic breaches of bodies, notably the United Nations, of the Red Cross, to promote the the Conventions—from Germany founded in 1945. ratification of the 1954 Convention. invading Belgium without warning to the widespread use of poison In 1954, the Hague Convention Prosecuting war crimes gas on all sides. for the Protection of Cultural The Hague Conventions still form Property in the Event of Armed the cornerstone of the rules of war. Even greater abuses took place Conflict was ratified. This is Allegations of war crimes can now in World War II, including the designed to protect cultural heritage, be tried by the ICC. In 2012, the Holocaust (the worst genocide in including archeological sites, works court delivered its first verdict history), the carpet bombing of of art, and scientific collections. Its when it found DR Congo militia roots lay in the ruins of World War I, leader Thomas Lubanga guilty of The sad reality is that, when Russian artist and writer war crimes and sentenced him over the centuries, many Nicholas Roerich, appalled by what to 14 years imprisonment. It is works of art have been lost he had witnessed, campaigned for currently investigating alleged and cultural sites damaged the protection of sites of scientific war crimes in 11 countries. ■ and artistic importance. The Roerich or destroyed in war. International Committee of the Red Cross Statement on the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property

178 PLAEESGRESAPLOANRAALTIETY SALOMON V. SALOMON & CO. LTD. (1896) IN CONTEXT I n the 19th century, Britain was distinct from those who created a leading industrial, financial, or financed it; sole proprietors or FOCUS and corporate global power. partnerships did not have this Company law Lawmakers were eager to govern protection. Limited liability, first the explosion in economic activity introduced in 1855, depended on BEFORE with a just framework for company the notion of an SLP and was key 1720 The British Bubble Act law. The 1844 and 1856 Joint Stock to encouraging enterprise, because limits creation of joint-stock Companies Acts (see box, right) it removed responsibility from any companies and leads to the and the 1862 Companies Act made individual or group that owned South Sea Company crash. it progressively easier to form a or invested in a business for any joint-stock company (one that is losses the business incurred. 1855 The Limited Liability owned by shareholders). The Acts Act protects investors of consolidated the principle in law of In 1892, Aron Salomon, a London larger companies for the a “separate legal personality” (SLP), bootmaker and sole proprietor, sum they originally invested. where an incorporated business or formed a new, limited company. company had an identity legally His wife and five children held one 1862 The Companies Act £1 share each, and he kept 20,001 clarifies the duties and rights of incorporated companies An incorporated limited Company owners or and makes the incorporation company is a separate shareholders are not process easier. legal entity from those responsible for losses who own or invest in it. incurred by the company AFTER often beyond their initial c.1900 The basic principles of limited liability are accepted investment. in much of the West; they remain the foundations of Creditors cannot sue company owners or corporate life. shareholders—only the limited company. 1928 A revised Companies Act seeks to ensure British limited-liability companies are not wound up fraudulently.

THE RISE OF THE RULE OF LAW 179 See also: Hadley v. Baxendale 148–149 ■ The Sherman Antitrust Act 170–173 ■ The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire 180–183 ■ The Federal Trade Commission 184–185 Robert Lowe Widely acclaimed as “the father governmental agency. of modern company law,” barrister Although the 1844 Act had and Liberal politician Robert Lowe given companies much more was born in 1811. He served as flexibility, it did not allow for vice president of the Board of limited liability of shareholders. Trade in Britain in 1855–1858, and it was chiefly due to him The Joint Stock Companies that critical revisions of the 1844 Act of 1856, championed by Joint Stock Companies Act were Lowe, made limited liability passed in an Act of the same available to any company with name in 1856. seven shareholders. It also, as importantly, helped raise The 1844 Act had created a levels of confidence in corporate regulatory framework enabling activities. The law lords’ verdict companies—which until that on Salomon v. Salomon & point could only be incorporated Co. Ltd. would have been by royal charter—to register unthinkable without him. Lowe as legal trading entities with was made Viscount Sherbrooke Companies House, a new in 1880 and died in 1892. shares, so it had the legal minimum incorporated company was a “mere The motives of those who of shareholders. He then sold his scheme” to allow Salomon to carry took part in the promotion of business to the limited company on his business with the benefit of the company are absolutely for a hefty £39,000, £10,000 of limited liability and to gain priority irrelevant in discussing what which was issued to Salomon as a over unsecured creditors if it failed. those rights and liabilities are. debenture (a loan secured against Lastly, the courts held that the other company assets). The company shareholders were tokens used to Hardinge Giffard, went into liquidation in 1893, with create what was effectively a one- Lord Halsbury debts of £7,773 to be borne by its man limited-liability company. unsecured creditors (those owed British law lord (1823–1921) money but with no assets in the The High Court and Court of company against which to claim). Appeal rulings were rejected in unpaid debts that the directors 1896 by the highest British court, and shareholders are not liable for, and The court case the House of Lords. The law lords’ companies created in an attempt Aron Salomon launched his case, literal interpretation of company law, to evade an existing obligation of Salomon v. Salomon & Co. Ltd., and assertion that “everyone was the company’s creator, where the as a secured creditor claiming entitled to limited liability,” fueled creator still has to pay. By 1900, the company’s remaining funds. The concerns that the unscrupulous the British corporate model based on liquidator claimed Salomon was might manipulate limited liability. limited liability had been adopted not due any money because he had However, the central role of limited in much of the West, but with some fraudulently overvalued the business liability as “the unyielding rock” of national variations. ■ and was therefore liable for the British company law was upheld. company’s losses. The law lords—Lord Halsbury among them—also rejected the Both the High Court in 1893 and idea that shareholders must be the Appeal Court in 1895 found independent of each other. against Salomon, on the grounds that the price he had received for Subsequent court rulings have his bootmaking business was distinguished between legitimately excessive. They also ruled that the incorporated businesses that cease trading and ultimately leave large

180 IN CONTEXT FDAAERCAETTLOHIRTTIERERSAAPLSLY FOCUS Employment law THE TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FACTORY FIRE (1911) BEFORE 1900 An average of 100 people die every day in industrial accidents across the US. 1909 Thousands of garment workers strike for improved conditions. Larger companies, such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, reject demands for increased workplace safety. AFTER 1933 President Roosevelt’s New Deal places social and workplace reform at the heart of government policy. 1940 The amended Fair Labor Standards Act cuts the work week in the US to 40 hours. Other US workers’ rights won in the years after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire include sick leave, safety precautions, and child labor laws. U ntil the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of March 25, 1911, was the single most serious loss of life in New York City. Almost all of the 146 who died were young immigrant women, predominantly Jewish and Italian, trapped when a fire spread through the top three floors of the Greenwich Village building where they worked. All were seamstresses paid between $7 and $12 for a 52-hour, 6-day week and forced to endure overcrowded and exploitative conditions. Their deaths were the result of a combination of municipal indifference and incompetence

THE RISE OF THE RULE OF LAW 181 See also: The Trade Union Act 156–159 ■ The Workers’ Accident Insurance System 164–167 ■ Donoghue v. Stevenson 194–195 ■ The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 222–229 ■ The European Convention on Human Rights 230–233 The late 19th-century industrial boom Fire regulations are flouted by in the US is fed by a ready workforce of businessmen, who bribe those entrusted easily exploited new immigrants. with enforcing safety rules and actively resist union calls for reform. New legislation introduces much stricter The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire safety standards, and there is shocks opinion across the US, with the public outraged by corporate callousness recognition that labor laws should serve the best interests of working people. over the safety of workers. The belief that society and economies as a whole benefit from fair standards of work is universally accepted. and of corporate corner-cutting. a strike by the International Ladies’ Firefighters douse the flames of Fire regulations were routinely Garment Workers’ Association the fire at the Asch Building’s Triangle ignored, and firefighters were poorly by paying the police to beat the Shirtwaist Factory. The building was equipped, with little understanding women and the politicians to look saved and still stands to this day, of how to tackle a fire in the upper the other way. It has been suggested renamed the Brown Building. stories of an overcrowded building. that the woefully inadequate fire precautions at the Triangle Factory The tragedy highlighted a were themselves a form of culture in which those enforcing insurance; should the company safety regulations could be bribed falter, a fire could be advantageous. by businessmen and shocked the However, there is no suggestion the whole country. As a result, it led to fire was started deliberately. a series of much more stringent fire regulations, and union membership The fire was similarly boosted. There were about 500 employees on the premises when the fire began, Blanck and Harris on the eighth floor, at about 4:40 p.m. The men who owned the Triangle It was almost certainly the result of Shirtwaist Company—Max Blanck a lit cigarette tossed into a steel bin and Issac Harris, themselves containing several weeks’ worth of Russian immigrants—were typical scrap cotton and discarded tissue profiteers of their era and class. paper. The resulting flame ignited There had been four earlier fires in fabrics that were suspended from factories they owned, and the pair the ceiling. Somebody reached had benefited handsomely from for the fire hose but found it had insurance payouts each time. In rotted, with its nozzle rusted shut. ❯❯ 1909, they had conspired to break

182 THE TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FACTORY FIRE The emotions of the crowd deaths from windows in the blazing I know from my were indescribable. Women upper stories. Several of them were experience it is up to on fire as they jumped, and many the working people were hysterical, scores were seen to hold hands before to save themselves. fainted; men wept. leaping. Thirty-six also died after Rose Schneiderman Louis Waldman plunging down the elevator shafts in a no-less-futile attempt at escape. Trade union activist Eyewitness to the Triangle (1882–1972) Shirtwaist Factory fire (1892–1982) The city’s fire services were helpless. Although almost every to each family. In the meantime, Those employees on the top floor, fireman in the city came racing to Blanck and Harris had already the tenth, made their way to the the building, their largest ladders received an insurance payout of roof and to safety. Among them could reach only to the sixth floor about $60,000 to help cover their were Blanck and Harris. However, and their most powerful hoses not “loss of revenue.” those on the eighth and ninth floors much higher. Nets were stretched had no means of escape. Only one out to catch the falling and jumping The fire burned for hardly 30 of the two small elevators was in workers, but they split apart from minutes, yet its social and political use, and it could carry no more the pressure of the impact. impact was enormous, despite the than 12 people at a time. After just fact that Blanck and Harris later three trips, it broke down. Public reaction cleared their names. On April 5, 1911, In December 1911, Blanck and a vast rally, estimated to have been There were two staircases, one Harris were tried for manslaughter 100,000 strong, marched through leading to Greene Street, the other but were acquitted, largely on New York demanding improved to Washington Place. Many people technicalities. Their counsel, not working conditions. It was watched escaped to the roof via the former denying that the Washington Place by a silent crowd of 400,000 people. before the fire made it impassable. door was locked, successfully Public outrage among all classes The Washington Place stairs were argued that there was no proof was palpable. In June 1911, the accessible but led to a locked door. that the defendants knew the door New York State Legislature A pile of bodies was later found was locked. In 1913, the families of sanctioned the creation of the behind it. The fire escape was the dead launched a civil suit, Factory Investigating Commission, equally useless—it buckled and charging Blanck and Harris with and an immense raft of reforms and disintegrated, causing 20 workers causing “wrongful death.” They recommendations followed. to fall to their death. succeeded only to the extent that compensation of $75 was awarded Almost no kind of industrialized Those who were still trapped business escaped the commission’s inside faced being burned alive or stringent recommendations, and dying from smoke inhalation. To chemical factories in particular the horror of the crowds below, 62 were singled out. Among the most sought a more desperate end still, lasting reforms was the Sullivan- throwing themselves to their Hoey Fire Prevention Law, which made sprinkler systems compulsory The fire at the factory destroyed and led to vastly improved means much of the interior of the Asch of access and exit, with all doors Building. The youngest victims of having to open outward rather the blaze were two teenaged girls than inward. who were both aged just 14.

THE RISE OF THE RULE OF LAW 183 No less importantly, for the first prosper if it persisted with labor Frances Perkins time, factories were forced to laws so obviously skewed against provide sanitary provisions as its working people. Roosevelt’s 1933 A number of New York basic as toilets for their workers. New Deal was a direct result of the legislators actively responded There had been none in the lesson learned from the Triangle to the challenge presented Triangle Company’s premises. One fire: capitalism was best served by the Triangle Factory fire. reason that exits were locked was if it genuinely had the interests of They stood in stark contrast to prevent “interruption of work” if all at heart. to their predecessors at the employees left the building to use New York–based political a lavatory. As one young factory Modern parallels organization Tammany Hall. worker said of her work conditions, The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Among the most notable “Unsanitary. That’s the word that was manufacturing the shirts made were Alfred E. Smith, Robert is generally used, but there ought popular by the rise of independent, F. Wagner, and Charles F. to be a worse one.” adventurous young American Murphy. The most important, women breaking free from the however, was a woman. While the political response constraints of home and hearth, was partly one of self-interest—that forging new careers in offices in Frances Perkins, born in political figures could boost their cities across the United States. 1880, witnessed the Triangle public standing if they were seen Their carefree garments and the fire, and it was perhaps the to be on the side of the workers new freedoms they symbolized defining moment of her life. rather than the bosses—it was also were made possible only by forced She had already campaigned genuinely disinterested. There was labor that was scarcely any better fiercely for workers’ rights, but a recognition that no country as than a form of slavery. The 1911 her subsequent commitment forward-looking and enterprising fire exposed the poor working to social justice was rewarded as the United States could hope to conditions in garment factories in 1933, when President at the time, but the parallels with Roosevelt made her secretary After organizing a march to protest 21st-century sweatshops in many of labor—the first female against the loss of life in the Triangle parts of Asia that make fashion so member of any US cabinet. As Shirtwaist Factory fire, unions worked cheap and fast-changing in the much as anyone, Perkins can with reform-minded politicians to affluent West are striking. ■ lay serious claim to be a prime introduce tougher safety regulations. shaper of the New Deal. She remained in office until the end of Roosevelt’s presidency in 1945 and is known today not just as the longest-serving secretary of labor, but also as an early champion of women’s rights. She died in New York City in 1965.

184 MTAHGOEANIOWNPSAOTRLY THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION (1914) IN CONTEXT The successful working of the free market depends on fair competition. FOCUS Commercial law Giant monopolies and trusts inhibit competition. BEFORE The free market is unable to prevent the 1890 The US Sherman development of monopolies and trusts. Antitrust Act outlaws price fixing and monopolies. The government must have a powerful agency to prevent anti-competitive practices. 1911 The US Supreme Court forces Standard Oil and T he creation of the Federal practices, such as bid rigging, price American Tobacco to break Trade Commission (FTC) fixing, monopolies, and monopolistic up their monopolies. by the 28th US president, mergers. There is an underlying Woodrow Wilson, in 1914 was assumption that the free market AFTER a landmark event in American cannot guarantee the absence 1914 The Clayton Antitrust business. It was the first truly of these practices without being Act forbids business mergers determined initiative to bring the steered in the right direction. that might impair competition overweening power of existing or create monopolies in the US. giant corporations under control. Rapid economic growth in the US, partly due to a population 1972 In FTC v. Sperry & The FTC’s brief is to protect increase, meant the necessity for Hutchinson Co., the Supreme consumers, investors, and legislation had become ever more Court ruling confirms the businesses from anti-competitive pressing in the early 1900s. Many FTC’s power to define criteria for identifying unfair business practices. 1999 Microsoft is found to be an illegal monopoly by the Supreme Court. It escapes break-up upon appeal.

THE RISE OF THE RULE OF LAW 185 See also: The Statute of Anne 106–107 ■ The Sherman Antitrust Act 170–173 ■ The Whistleblower Protection Act 274 ■ The WIPO Copyright Treaty 286–287 The Bosses of the Senate (1889). This cartoon by Joseph Keppler depicts corporate interests, such as copper, tin, and coal, as huge money bags looming over the Chamber of the US Senate. key commodities were in the hands pursuing trusts through individual Ida Tarbell of just a few huge businesses known cases would quickly clog up the as trusts, which controlled entire courts, so Congress also brought Born in Pennsylvania in 1857, sections of the US economy, such in the Federal Trade Commission Ida Tarbell was a pioneer as oil, steel, railroads, and sugar. Act. This bill outlawed “unfair of investigative journalism. These giant trusts were, in essence, methods of competition” and She is best known for her monopolies with complete control of created a new government agency, 1904 book, The History of the market. Prices soared, service the FTC, with broad powers to the Standard Oil Company, dwindled, and the public demanded regulate business. To avoid political published as a series of action. President Theodore Roosevelt influence, only three of the five articles in McClure’s Magazine proclaimed himself a “trustbuster” board members could be from from 1902 to 1904, which and in 1904, he deployed the the same political party. presented evidence that Sherman Antitrust Act, which Standard Oil was rigging the outlawed price fixing to force the The FTC could investigate prices that railroads paid for break-up of the Northern Securities evidence from consumers, media, oil. The book has been called Company, a railroad conglomerate. and businesses; review cases; and “the single most influential issue rulings directly. Later Acts book on business ever But Roosevelt’s efforts were not extended its remit to cover “unfair published in the United enough. Big business was booming, or deceptive acts or practices in or States” by American author and the rich were getting richer affecting commerce.” With the help and historian Daniel Yergin. while many workers were stuck on of new regulatory bodies such as low pay in dead-end jobs. People felt the Food and Drug Administration A prolific and popular capitalism was rigged—a belief (FDA), the FTC has played a huge writer during a 64-year career, confirmed when both Standard role in shaping US business over Tarbell was known for taking Oil and American Tobacco were the past century. ■ complex subjects and breaking convicted of antitrust offenses in them down into easy-to- 1911. Trustbusting became the key Great corporations understand articles. She also issue in the 1912 presidential exist only because they traveled across the US on elections that brought Woodrow the lecture circuit to speak Wilson to power. are created and on subjects including world safeguarded by our peace, politics, tariffs, labor A new government agency practices, and women’s issues. Wilson’s administration passed the institutions. Tarbell died of pneumonia Clayton Antitrust Act in 1914, which Theodore Roosevelt in a hospital in Bridgeport, created legal powers to curb trusts Connecticut, in 1944. by targeting mergers. However, 26th US president (1901–1909)

186 IIPSLOLIFESRGOUANILTOEUOVSFIDTTERHNEECEE THE EXCLUSIONARY RULE (1914) IN CONTEXT T he unanimous ruling of ruling on the Fourth Amendment the US Supreme Court to clarify precisely what it meant FOCUS in Weeks v. United States in legal terms. Constitutional law in 1914 was an unequivocal endorsement of the constitutional Weeks v. United States BEFORE absolutes of the 1791 US Bill of The case had seemed humdrum at 1791 Congress adopts the US Rights. Specifically, it upheld the first. In 1911, Fremont Weeks had Bill of Rights, which is made Fourth Amendment of the Bill, been convicted in Kansas City, up of the first 10 amendments which asserted that “The rights Missouri, of breaking gambling to the US Constitution. of the people to be secure in their laws by mailing lottery tickets over persons, houses, papers, and state lines. Yet the Supreme Court 19th century No case law effects, against unreasonable overturned his conviction on the exists to define the practical searches and seizures, shall not grounds that the evidence had application of the Fourth be violated.” This was first time been obtained illegally. Weeks’s Amendment. a US court had made a definitive house had been searched twice AFTER The Bill of Rights guarantees the personal 1949 Wolf v. Colorado extends liberties of all American citizens. possible implementation of the exclusionary rule so that it Vague drafting makes the interpretation of some does not apply where a state Amendments unclear, particularly the Fourth, which crime is being prosecuted in guards against unreasonable search and seizure. a state court. The exclusionary rule says that evidence 1961 Mapp v. Ohio makes the obtained by an unlawful search or seizure exclusionary rule mandatory in all US courts, overturning is inadmissible in criminal trials. Wolf v. Colorado. 1974 United States v. Calandra scales back the exclusionary rule in some circumstances; later rulings continue to refine applications of the rule.

THE RISE OF THE RULE OF LAW 187 See also: The US Constitution and Bill of Rights 110–117 ■ The Declaration of the Rights of Man 118–119 ■ The US Supreme Court and judicial review 124–129 ■ Miranda v. Arizona 254–255 The Kansas City police department, some of its members shown here in around 1900, was assiduous in pursuing criminals, but it did not always follow the rule of law. by law enforcement officers—on go unpunished—there was no convictions by Colorado State, the second occasion by a US question that Weeks was guilty. because it was up to state courts marshal. On both occasions, no Defenders of the ruling said that, to decide whether or not they would search warrants were issued. without the exclusionary rule, the implement the exclusionary rule in Constitution itself was violated. criminal cases. Weeks’s constitutional right More practically, it was in the wider under the Fourth Amendment “to interests of American justice to use It was only in the 1961 Mapp v. be secure” had been violated, so the the rule to hold law officers to the Ohio case, concerning a conviction evidence gathered was “excluded” highest standards of evidence. of possession of obscene materials, from use in court, meaning it was that the exclusionary rule became ruled inadmissible. This principle Exceptions to the rule mandatory in all US courts. The was known as the exclusionary rule. Later Supreme Court judgments precedent cited was the Fourteenth have tended to water down strict Amendment, which guaranteed the Clear parallels existed with later interpretations of the exclusionary right to “due process of law.” ■ Supreme Court rulings that found rule. For example, in United States constitutional rights had been v. Leon, a drug-trafficking case, the The criminal goes violated, most obviously in Miranda police conducted a search with free, if he must, but it v. Arizona in 1966. In this case, rape a warrant later found to be invalid. and kidnapping convictions were The 1984 ruling maintained that is the law that sets overturned because the accused’s the exclusionary rule did not apply, him free. constitutional rights—to remain because evidence obtained by silent and avoid self-incrimination police “in good faith” with the Tom C. Clark (Fifth Amendment) and to legal search warrant was admissible; counsel (Sixth)—had been ignored. it also held that the “substantial US Supreme Court justice social costs” of the guilty going (1949–1967) The exclusionary rule has always free could be disproportionate. been controversial. The obvious criticism was that the guilty might An oddity of the exclusionary rule was that it applied only in Edward Douglass White was chief federal cases. In Wolf v. Colorado, justice of the eponymous White Court, in 1949, the Supreme Court upheld the US Supreme Court that in 1914 in Weeks v. United States unanimously agreed on the exclusionary rule.

188 PTOHWE BERALILSOT THE REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE ACT (1918) IN CONTEXT B efore 1832, only 3 percent vote. Many men—as well as some of Britain’s adult male women—were hostile toward the FOCUS population were entitled idea of women’s suffrage, believing Electoral reform to vote. The law granted suffrage that women were too emotional to (the right to vote) only to men who make rational political decisions BEFORE earned a certain amount of money and that they didn’t know about 1832 Mary Smith presents or held a large amount of property. industry or commerce. the first petition to the UK As Parliament began slowly Parliament calling for women extending the franchise (the vote) Deeds not words to be able to vote in local to a larger proportion of the male Female campaigners started to elections. population (with Acts passed in organize themselves into groups. 1832, 1867, and 1884), women were Some activists such as Millicent 1893 New Zealand becomes questioning why they could not Fawcett, who formed the National the first country to give Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies women the right to vote in (NUWSS) in 1897, believed in parliamentary elections. peaceful protest, using pamphlets, rallies, and petitions to Parliament 1894 The Local Government to demand the vote. In contrast, Act in the UK allows women Emmeline Pankhurst and the to vote in county and borough Women’s Social and Political Union elections. (WSPU, formed in 1903), with the motto “Deeds not words,” favored AFTER direct action: vandalism, hunger 1920 The United States gives strikes, and chaining themselves all women the right to vote. to railings. The impetus for change was further crystallized by the 1928 Universal suffrage in the Married Woman’s Property Acts UK is finally granted to all men of 1870, 1882, and 1884, which and women aged over 21. This anti-suffrage poster shows 2015 Women in Saudi Arabia a husband arriving home after a hard are granted the right to vote. day’s work to find his tearful children left on their own while the mother is out campaigning.

THE RISE OF THE RULE OF LAW 189 See also: Magna Carta 66–71 ■ The Glorious Revolution and the English Bill of Rights 102–103 ■ The Declaration of the Rights of Man 118–119 ■ The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 222–229 ■ The Civil Rights Act 248–253 Voting rights are initially only extended to rich land-owning men, keeping power in the hands of the select few. allowed women to keep their own Suffragettes took to the streets Working men money and property on marriage. campaigning for women’s votes and successfully argue Women were now paying taxes on publicizing forthcoming meetings, that they should be businesses they owned but had no as in this photograph taken in represented in say in how taxes were spent. Manhattan in around 1913. Parliament. Since the 1860s, there had been were required to take on traditionally repeated efforts by campaigners male jobs and responsibilities. During World War I, and sympathetic parliamentarians Arguments against giving women many women leave the for legislation that would extend the vote—such as them being the domestic sphere to fill the right to vote to women, but “weaker sex”—seemed absurd they were continually thwarted. when around 2 million women had traditionally male jobs. Things changed with the outbreak taken jobs previously held by men. of World War I in 1914. With so The Representation many men sent off to war, women In 1918, Parliament finally of the People Act passed the Representation of the gives women over Men … have decided that it People Act, which extended the is entirely right and proper for vote not only to all men aged over 30 the right to vote. men to fight for their liberties 21, but also to women aged over 30. forged ahead and, in 1893, became and their rights, but that it Votes for all the first country to extend the is not right and proper for The Act enfranchised an estimated right to vote to women. In 1920, women to fight for theirs. 8.5 million women, who were able the Nineteenth Amendment to the Emmeline Pankhurst to vote for the first time in an US Constitution allowed women to election in December that year. vote, and in 1928, Britain passed My Own Story, 1914 And because the Parliament the Equal Franchise Act, giving (Qualification of Women) Act had all Britons over the age of 21 the passed just weeks earlier, they right to vote regardless of class, were also able to vote for female wealth, and gender. ■ candidates for the first time. By then, women’s suffrage had become a key issue around the world. New Zealand had already

190 NEHAEOTTSWHWAHOLORLKDNOOETS THE RUSSIAN CONSTITUTION (1918) IN CONTEXT The revolution of the I n 1917, during the February proletariat, the working Revolution, Russian soldiers FOCUS weary of World War I drove Constitutional law class, must survive. Czar Nicholas II from St. Petersburg The bourgeoisie will to clear the way for a provisional BEFORE do anything to overturn government. Following the czar’s 1791 In France, revolutionaries abdication in March, liberals had proclaim a new constitution. the revolution. hoped to see a move toward The proletariat masses are representative democracy. 1871 The Paris Commune— too fickle to sustain the However, a failed attempt in based on radical, socialist September by imperial Russian ideals—rules the city briefly, changes needed. general Lavr Kornilov to overthrow for 3 months. The revolutionary leaders the provisional government of the proletariat must take provoked Vladimir Lenin, who 1905 The Russian Revolution was then in exile in Finland, to leads to a new constitution firm control. rally his Bolshevik followers. and an elected legislature, the State Duma. The constitution Bolshevik takeover adopts a blueprint Lenin decided the time was right AFTER for his return to Russia, where he 1924 The 1918 Constitution for society and would play a leading role in the is revised to consolidate excludes the October Revolution. Influenced by the power of the Russian bourgeoisie. German founder of communism Communist Party (which later Karl Marx, Lenin embraced the becomes the Communist Party idea of the “dictatorship of the of the Soviet Union). proletariat,” so called because the power of the proletariat, or working 1936 The Stalin Constitution class, should not be limited by gives total control to Stalin and laws created by the bourgeoisie. the Communist Party. On October 25 (November 7, 1991 The Soviet Union (USSR) Gregorian calendar), the Bolsheviks is dissolved, and with it the seized power and quickly formed Communist Constitution. both the Red Army and the Cheka— ruthless enforcers who went on to

THE RISE OF THE RULE OF LAW 191 See also: The Glorious Revolution and the English Bill of Rights 102–103 ■ The US Constitution and Bill of Rights 110–117 ■ The Declaration of the Rights of Man 118–119 ■ The Treaty of Versailles 192–193 become the Soviet secret police, or anti-revolutionary White Army (led This striking Soviet poster, issued KGB. The following spring, as civil by the former imperial military) and to commemorate the 1917 Revolution, war continued to rage, they created made it the duty of workers and depicts a worker smashing the chains a new constitution. The Constitution soldiers to join the new Red Army. of oppression to win peace, freedom, of 1918 was the first to recognize socialism, and democracy. rule by the working class, making The Bolsheviks’ attachment to Russia the first-ever socialist state. power lasted beyond the Civil War; the Russian Communist Party. the 1918 Constitution replaced the Significantly, it did not include The constitution czar’s despotism with the state a guarantee of human rights When Lenin drew up a constitution, despotism of what would become for individuals. adopted in 1918, it was not intended to ensure stability with checks and The Russian Congress of balances, but was a revolutionary Soviets, which had formed in 1917, blueprint for changing society. was filled with soviet deputies, elected workers, peasants, and The constitution’s aim was “the soldiers, but in reality it was just abolition of the exploitation of men a rubber stamp for the Party. by men, the entire abolition of the The “supreme organ of power,” the division of the people into classes, Central Executive Committee, the suppression of exploiters, the selected the head of state and establishment of a socialist society.” issued decrees. Commissars An alliance of workers and peasants elected by Congress also issued would rule the country through decrees and saw to administration. soviets—councils of workers’ and soldiers’ deputies that had sprung The Constitution of 1918 laid out up all over Russia. the principles for constitutions that would later be adopted throughout Initially, soviets had been open the communist world—in Belarus, to all, but the constitution excluded China, Cuba, Turkmenistan, the bourgeoisie from soviets and all North Korea, and Vietnam. It also other organs of government. It also provided a framework for the USSR forbade anyone from supporting the government for 73 years. ■ Vladimir Ilich Lenin in 1902, “Give us an organization Democracy for an of revolutionaries and we will insignificant minority, Vladimir Ulyanov, better known overturn Russia!” However, democracy for the rich— as Lenin, was born in Simbirsk the Russian Social-Democratic that is the democracy of (now Ulyanovsk) in 1870. Lenin Workers’ Party (RSDWP) split turned his thoughts toward into hard-line Bolsheviks and capitalist society. revolution in part due to the more moderate Mensheviks. Vladimir Lenin hanging of his elder brother in 1887 for his role in a plot to Lenin’s dynamism and The State and Revolution, 1917 assassinate Czar Alexander III. inspirational leadership took the Bolsheviks into power in Russia Lenin, inspired by the French by the end of 1917 and ensured revolutionary constitution, the that there was no way back for Paris Commune, and Karl Marx, Czar Nicholas II. The Bolsheviks went on to shape the Russian became the Russian Communist Revolution. He was determined Party and Lenin became the to make the Revolution last by first head of the Soviet state, founding a party. As he had said until his death in 1924.

192 PWWEIEALCWLEBAWNETHJUIACSHT THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES (1919) IN CONTEXT T he Treaty of Versailles was Eight new nation-states were also signed on June 28, 1919, created: Czechoslovakia, Estonia, FOCUS between the victorious Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, International law Allied powers of World War I and Poland, and Yugoslavia. the defeated German Empire. BEFORE Over the following 14 months, The 1919 Treaty had been 1907 The Triple Entente sets four more treaties were concluded drafted at the Versailles Peace Britain, France, and Russia with Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Conference, attended by 27 nations in an alliance to confront the and Turkey. Further treaties were but led by Britain, France, Italy, Central Powers—Germany signed with Turkey in 1923 and and the US. The prime impetus and Austria-Hungary. Germany in 1925. for the conference had come from US president Woodrow Wilson. 1918 Germany and Austria- The treaties remade the map His ideal was a democratic, open, Hungary agree to an armistice. of Europe. The Austro-Hungarian and equal league of nations (see Fighting ends with possibly and Ottoman Empires were box, opposite) based on “self- 9 million servicemen killed dismantled; the former Russian determination,” forging a new and 11 million civilians dead. Empire, now convulsed by civil peaceful and prosperous world. war, was dramatically reduced. 1918 Revolutions convulse Wilson’s vision for Europe was Germany after it surrenders. undermined by the impossibility of creating coherent nation-states AFTER out of multiethnic peoples and by 1923 The fledgling Weimar other Allies’ political imperatives. Republic, the government of Germany, falters under the Punishing Germany strain of hyperinflation. British prime minister David Lloyd George and French premier Georges 1929–1933 During the Great Clemenceau were set on a “war Depression, unemployment in guilt clause.” The logic was simple: Germany soars to 6 million. since Germany was responsible for 1933 Adolf Hitler is confirmed Germany is shackled, in this 1932 as German Chancellor; Nazi protest poster by Heinz Wever, by the one-party rule soon follows. weight of reparations as a result of the “war guilt” ascribed to the country in Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles.

THE RISE OF THE RULE OF LAW 193 See also: The Geneva Conventions 152–155 ■ The Nuremberg trials 202–209 The League of Nations ■ The United Nations and International Court of Justice 212–219 The world’s determination Europe’s nations are prostrated by World War I; to make impossible any future another great war is unthinkable. conflict on the scale of World War I was epitomized by the The US briefly emerges as the world’s peacemaker, creation in Geneva in 1920 of championing democracy and a league of nations. the League of Nations. It was to be an international force for France and Britain insist that Germany’s might cooperation and security must be curtailed to stop it from starting another war, and that between nations. Germany must pay for the damage that it has done. Although inspired by US president Woodrow Wilson, The Treaty of Versailles formally ends the war and the League was undermined compels Germany to disarm, surrender territory, and from the start by the refusal of the US, reverting to make huge reparations to the Allied powers. isolationism, to join it and by the perception that it was a the war, it should bear the burden. Forced to sign the treaty, Germany Franco-British attempt to So the Treaty of Versailles imposed was left both humiliated and justify colonial dominance. two major conditions on Germany. impoverished, its economy ruined, its emperor exiled, and its people The League of Nations The first condition of the treaty starving. Even at the time, it was soon proved toothless, a was financial. Germany was to recognized that such punitive well-meaning body with no pay reparations of 132 billion marks. demands on a defeated people effective means of imposing This was on top of its vast war could only provoke bitterness. its judgments and frequently debts of around 150 billion marks. unable to agree on a collective It also had to surrender almost all of Dire consequences course of action. At its peak its iron-ore and coal resources, as Germany’s punishment proved to be in 1935, it could claim only well as 13 percent of its territory, disastrous for the long-term success 58 members, many of whom where about 10 percent of its of the peace treaty. The country were ambivalent; some people lived. might have recovered if the Great joined the League for only Depression had not plunged it into a few years. Germany also had to disarm. Its further economic misery, to the armies, 3.8 million strong in 1914, benefit of Hitler. He was not an False start or not—it was were to be cut to 100,000; and it inevitable product of the Treaty of officially disbanded in 1946— had to give up most of its navy and Versailles, but his rise would have the League was the template all of its larger merchant ships. The been unthinkable without it. Aiming for the United Nations in 1945. Rhineland, in the west of Germany, to end the war to end all wars, the was to become a demilitarized zone Versailles Treaty paved the way for This is not a peace, policed by Allied troops, and all of World War II and the Holocaust. ■ it is an armistice for Germany’s overseas colonies were to be given up. twenty years. Marshal Ferdinand Foch French general (1851–1929)

194 OAFDCUATRYE DONOGHUE V. STEVENSON (1932) IN CONTEXT Damage occurs to an individual allegedly as a result of carelessness on the part of another person. FOCUS Tort law The defendant could have reasonably foreseen that their conduct was likely to injure someone. BEFORE 1842 In the Winterbottom v. The “love thy neighbor” principle extends to anyone Wright case in the UK, judges bound to be affected by careless acts. rule against a coach driver who claims he is injured because of It is fair to impose a responsibility on negligent maintenance by the the defendant for their actions. coach provider. O n August 26, 1928, May snail had fallen out of the bottle. AFTER Donoghue and a friend She was shaken by this and 1943 The House of Lords holds stopped at a café in became ill shortly afterward. that a duty of care does not Paisley, Scotland, where the extend to those traumatized friend ordered drinks for the pair. The owner of the café was after witnessing accidents. The Donoghue had a Stevenson’s ginger clearly not to blame since the 1982 McLoughlin v. O’Brian beer, which came in an opaque sealed bottles had been delivered case recognizes such a duty. brown glass bottle that obscured to him by the manufacturer, David the liquid inside. She poured and Stevenson, and he couldn’t see the 1951 The duty of care principle drank some of the ginger beer, but contents within. Crucially, May is applied to a woman who is then noticed that a decomposing Donoghue was not Stevenson’s hit on the head by a cricket ball customer—her friend was, because in a case that clarifies what a defendant needs to foresee. 1970 Donoghue v. Stevenson is cited in a landmark case involving damage to boats by young offenders in the care of the Home Office.

THE RISE OF THE RULE OF LAW 195 See also: Blackstone’s Commentaries 109 ■ Hadley v. Baxendale 148–149 ■ The Workers’ Accident Insurance System 164–167 ■ Salomon v. Salomon & Co. Ltd. 178–179 It would seem little short of outrageous to make [the defendants] responsible … for the condition of the contents of every bottle which issues from their works. Lord Buckmaster Dissenting judge, 1932 An opaque bottle was at the heart “Love thy neighbor,” Atkin said, was straightforward in the example of the Donoghue v. Stevenson case, raised the legal issue of “Who is of May Donoghue’s ginger beer; the with the final ruling based on the fact my neighbor?” Atkin went on to manufacturer had made a product that the café owner could not be held say that a person should take into designed to go into the wider world, responsible for what was not visible. account not just people who are so he should have foreseen that physically close to them, but anyone people consuming it would be she had paid for the drinks. Under who was bound to be affected by harmed if it was contaminated. the law as it stood at the time, careless acts. In outlining a person’s Mrs. Donoghue was not entitled duty to others—what came to be Donoghue v. Stevenson was to compensation for her illness, known as a duty of care—he was important in the field of tort law, because she had not entered into setting a standard by which courts which deals with compensation a contract with the drink’s producer. could assess whether someone for harm to people’s rights to safe She sued Stevenson anyway, and should be held responsible for their products, a clean environment, and in 1931, her case ended up at the careless conduct. This assessment protection of their property and House of Lords, which was then wider economic interests. The the UK’s highest court. case clarified the existence of a general duty of care, not just a duty “Love thy neighbor” Who, then, in law confined to situations such as the The following year, Lord Atkin, is my neighbor? relationship between a doctor and speaking for the majority of judges a patient, between an employer and who found in favor of Donoghue, Lord Atkin an employee, or a contract between said that Stevenson owed a broad a manufacturer and someone duty of care to anyone who drank his House of Lords, 1932 buying their product. product. If a claim for damages was made, it was important to establish As courts later defined concepts whether someone could reasonably such as foreseeability and proximity foresee that their actions would in more detail, the case came to be be likely to injure another person. considered a landmark in personal The Bible’s commandment to injury and consumer law around the world, laying the foundation of the modern law of negligence. ■

196 BDWEEEARADEPLGOYUNLSAMTEUDST THE NATIONAL FIREARMS ACT (1934) IN CONTEXT T he Second Amendment to tax them out of existence, with a the US Constitution makes $200 levy imposed on all sales. In FOCUS it explicit that “the right addition, owners of such weapons Gun control of the people to keep and bear were required to register them. The Arms shall not be infringed.” It was Act did not apply to handguns. BEFORE intended to safeguard the citizens 1791 The Second Amendment of the newly independent republic The results of the Firearms Act confirms the right to bear arms from attack, potentially even from were mixed. It mainly penalized the on the grounds of self-defense. their own government, by allowing law-abiding, doing little to deter for “a well-regulated militia.” The the criminal, who were unlikely 1929 In the St. Valentine’s debate as to whether this right to be swayed by legal directives. Day Massacre, seven gang is an incitement to violence or a Further Supreme Court rulings members are brutally cornerstone of American liberties in 2008, 2010, and 2016 have murdered in Chicago. has raged ever since. failed to provide a resolution to this deep ideological fault line 1933 Giuseppe Zangara Despite ambiguous Supreme in American society. ■ attempts to assassinate Court rulings in 1875 and 1886— President-elect Roosevelt; he both, in effect, watering down the The deadliest mass shooting in the fatally wounds Chicago mayor Second Amendment—the National US took place on October 1, 2017, in Las Anton Cermak, and the call Firearms Act of 1934 was the first Vegas, when Stephen Paddock opened for gun control grows louder. federal attempt at gun-control fire at a music festival. He killed 58 legislation. It was passed soon after people and injured a further 413. AFTER the repeal of Prohibition, largely in 1993 The number of American response to public disquiet at the firearm homicides per year unchecked gang warfare during peaks; after soaring in the that era, when criminals gained 1960s, it declines sharply from control of the alcohol trade. 1993 to 2000, then rises again. The Act applied to only two 2000–2019 A total of 710 types of weapons: machine guns people are killed in mass and short-barreled guns. Neither shootings across the US. was banned. The intention was to See also: The US Constitution and Bill of Rights 110–117 ■ The Declaration of the Rights of Man 118–119 ■ The US Supreme Court and judicial review 124–129

THE RISE OF THE RULE OF LAW 197 FDAREDMOICMOTCAARTAOCRYSTHOIP THE NUREMBERG LAWS (1935) IN CONTEXT N azi racism toward Jewish Everything we have people was apparent even done flows from the FOCUS before Adolf Hitler became Nuremberg Laws. Racial law chancellor in January 1933. Jews Reinhard Heydrich were seen as Untermenschen BEFORE (“subhuman”), defiling racial purity. Nazi SS official Mid-1800s In parts of In the early 1930s, they were (1904–1942) northern Europe, a theory of scapegoated and mistreated in Aryan racial purity develops: an attempt to drive them out of identity. Those with one-eighth Jews, black people, and Slavs Germany. Then, in 1935, the racial Jewish blood or less were deemed are deemed “racially inferior.” discrimination was made into law. German and citizens of the Reich; those with three-quarters or 1930 The Myth of the There were two Nuremberg entirely Jewish blood were stripped Twentieth Century, by Nazi Laws: the Law for the Protection of of all rights. Those in between were Alfred Rosenberg, attempts German Blood and German Honor, Reich citizens but not members philosophical justification for and the Reich Citizenship Law. of the German race. the persecution of the Jews. They went much further than the many anti-Jewish decrees that had The Nuremberg Laws were a AFTER been passed since 1933, such as key stepping stone to the Final 1938 In Kristallnacht (“the banning Jews from government Solution itself, authorized in 1941: night of broken glass”), on positions and restricting their Europe’s Jews were no longer November 9–10, anti-Jewish participation in key professions. merely to be victimized—they rioting is coordinated by were to be exterminated. ■ paramilitaries across Germany; The German Blood and German 30,000 Jews are arrested. Honor Law banned marriage between Jews and Germans, 1939–1945 Aktion T4 (the “T4 and “extramarital” relations were program”) authorizes some likewise outlawed. Jews could also German physicians to carry no longer employ female Germans out compulsory euthanasia of under 45 as domestic servants. The the deformed, disabled, and Citizenship Law gave a convoluted mentally ill. series of definitions of racial See also: The Geneva Conventions 152–155 ■ The Nuremberg trials 202–209 ■ The Genocide Convention 210–211 ■ The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 222–229

IOANRTNDEEERWRNA 1945–1980

TIONAL

200 INTRODUCTION The United Nations The International The UN passes The European Charter aims to Criminal Police the Universal Court of Justice is foster world peace Commission, founded Declaration of and protect in 1923, is revived. It Human Rights. established to human rights. adopts the name complement the INTERPOL in 1956. European Coal and Steel Community, a forerunner of the EU. 1945 1945 1948 1952 1945 1948 1950 1962 An international tribunal The UN adopts The European The Nordic Council, is set up in Nuremberg, the Genocide Convention on Human formed in 1952, passes Convention, making Rights becomes the first the Helsinki Treaty, Germany, to try Nazi genocide a crime under enforceable international facilitating integration leaders on charges of international law. war crimes and crimes treaty protecting of the Scandinavian human rights. countries. against humanity. T he decades following atmosphere that saw both the of their kind, and they defined World War II saw a global Great Depression and the three new types of crime: crimes dramatic change in the rise of the Nazis in Germany. against peace, including starting global political landscape and in Toward the end of World War II, an unprovoked war; war crimes, attitudes toward international however, international leaders were such as breaking the international cooperation. Two devastating more open to the idea of such an rules of war as set out in the Hague global conflicts separated by less organization, and the United Nations Conventions of 1899 and 1907; and than a generation had created an was founded in October 1945. crimes against humanity, including unprecedented desire for peace and mass murder, forced labor, and justice, and the horrors of the Nazi Retribution and institutions religious persecution. Holocaust underlined the need for In the immediate aftermath of the international legislation. However, war, the huge scale of the Nazi The UN recognized genocide as it wasn’t long before the opposing atrocities, especially the Holocaust, a crime in 1946 and outlawed it in ideologies of East and West began prompted a strong international 1948, the same year that it codified to cast the long shadow of the response, which came first in the a general statement of its objectives “Cold War,” made more menacing form of a series of military tribunals in the Universal Declaration of by the threat of nuclear weapons. to try the surviving German Human Rights. Within a few years, military and political leaders. These the UN had brought together the Although attempts had been trials were held in Nuremberg in world’s major powers in numerous made after World War I to set up 1945–1946, with a panel of judges international agencies. truly international organizations, from the US, UK, Soviet Union such as the League of Nations, (USSR), and France. They were the In Europe, which had suffered these had ultimately failed in the first international military tribunals heavily from the ravages of both turbulent economic and political world wars, there was a widespread desire for peaceful cooperation,