Neutralization of Belgium and the Doctrine of Kriegsraison

Anything which Professor Niemeyer has to say in the field of International Law is deserving of serious attention. Under his editorial supervision the ZEITSCHRIFT INTERNATIONALES RECHT has become a valuable factor in the development of International Law in Germany. The foregoing article, which recently appeared in the JURISTICHE WOCHENSCHRIFT, has been translated with his consent with a view to its publication in these pages. The leading thought of the article is to arrive at a justification of Germany's failure to observe the Treaty of London of 1839 from the point of view of International Law.

He rests his case (1) upon a legal conception: that of Kriegsraison, to which the translator has not very aptly given as an English equivalent the phrase "the necessity of war," and (2) upon a question of fact. Let us consider these two elements in order.