again take part in the hostilities. This neutral state shall discharge the same duties if it be entrusted with the wounded or sick of the other army.
Art. 15.—The Geneva Convention applies to sick and wounded interned on neutral territory (see Geneva Convention).
Art. 16.—The natives of a state not taking part in the hostilities are considered as neutrals.
Art. 17.—A neutral person cannot take advantage of his neutrality:—
(a) If he commits hostile acts against a belligerent;
(b) If he commits acts in favour of a belligerent, for instance, if he voluntarily takes service in the ranks of the army of one of the parties.
In such a case the neutral shall not be treated with more severity by the belligerent against whom he has acted in contravention of his neutrality than a native of the other belligerent state would be for the same act.
Art. 18.—The following shall not be considered as acts committed in favour of one of the belligerents, in the sense of Art. 17 (b):—
(a) Supplies or loans made to one of the belligerents provided the purveyor or the lender inhabits neither the territory of the other party nor territory occupied by it, and provided the supplies do not come from these territories;
(b) Services rendered in matters of police or civil administration.
Art. 19.—Railway property coming from the territory of neutral states. whether it belongs to these states or to companies or to private persons, and recognizable as such, cannot be requisitioned or utilized by a belligerent, except in such cases and in such a manner as dictated by absolute necessity. Such property shall be returned to its country of origin as soon as possible.
The neutral state can even, in case of necessity, keep and utilize to that extent property coming from the territory of a belligerent state.
An indemnity shall be paid, proportionate to the amount of the property utilized and the duration of utilization.
The clauses of the Convention relating exclusively to neutrality in naval war, which are still fuller, are:—
Art. 1.—Belligerents are bound to respect the sovereign rights of neutral powers and to abstain, either on the territory or in neutral waters, from all acts which might constitute in the part of the powers permitting them a non-observance of their neutrality.Convention of 1907 on neutrality in naval war.
Art. 2.—All acts of hostility, including capture and the exercise of the right of visit and search, by belligerent ships of war in the territorial waters of a neutral power, constitute a breach of neutrality and are strictly forbidden.
Art. 3.—When a vessel has been captured in the territorial waters of a neutral power, this power shall, if the prize is still within its jurisdiction, use all means in its power to effect the release of the prize and its officers and crew, and that the crew placed on board by the captor shall be interned. If the prize is out of the jurisdiction of the neutral power, the capturing government shall, on the request of the former, release the prize with its officers and crew.
Art. 4.—No prize court can be constituted by a belligerent on neutral territory or on a vessel in neutral waters.
Art. 5.—Belligerents are forbidden to make neutral ports and waters the base of naval operations against their adversaries, especially by installing radio-telegraphic stations or any apparatus which may serve as means of communication with belligerent forces on sea or on land.
Art. 6.—The supply, under any ground whatever, either directly or indirectly, by a neutral power to a belligerent power, of ships of war, or of munitions or of material of war of any kind, is forbidden.
Art. 7.—A neutral power is not bound to prevent the exportation or transit, for the account of either belligerent, of arms, munitions of war, or, in general, of anything which may be useful to an army or a fleet.
Art. 8.—A neutral government is bound to use the means at its disposal to prevent, within its jurisdiction, the equipping or arming of any vessel, which it has any reasonable suspicion of being destined to act as a cruiser or to join in hostile operations against a power with which it is at peace.
It is also bound to exercise the same surveillance to prevent the departure out of its jurisdiction of any vessel intending to act as a cruiser or take part in hostile operations, and which, within the said jurisdiction, may have been adapted either wholly or in part for warlike purposes.
Art. 9.—A neutral power must apply equally to the two belligerents the restrictions, conditions and interdictions specified by it relating to admission to its ports, roadsteads, or territorial waters, with respect to ships of war or their prizes.
A neutral power may, however, forbid access to its ports and roadsteads, to any belligerent vessel which may have neglected to comply with the orders and directions issued by it or may have committed a breach of neutrality.
Art. 10.—The neutrality of a power is not compromised by the simple passage through its territorial waters of belligerent ships of war and of their prizes.
Art. 11.—A neutral power may allow ships of war of belligerents to make use of its licensed pilots.
Art. 12.—In default of other special provisions in the laws of a neutral power, ships of war of belligerents are forbidden to remain in the ports or roadsteads or in the territorial waters of the said power for more than twenty-four hours, except in the cases provided for by the present Convention.
Art. 13.—If a power which has received notice of the commencement of hostilities learns that a ship of war of a belligerent is in one of its ports and roadsteads or in its territorial waters, it shall notify the said ship that it must leave within twenty-four hours or within the time prescribed by the local law.
Art. 14.—A belligerent ship of war may not prolong its stay in a neutral port beyond the legal period, except for the purpose of repairing damage or by reason of the state of the sea. It must leave as soon as the cause of the delay has ceased.
The rules relating to the limitation of stay in ports, roadsteads, and neutral waters do not apply to ships of war exclusively employed on religious, scientific or philanthropic missions.
Art. 15.—In default of other special provisions in the laws of the neutral power, the maximum number of ships of war of a belligerent which may be at the same time in one of its ports or roadsteads shall be three.
Art. 16.—When ships of war of two belligerents are at the same time in a neutral port or roadstead, twenty-four hours at least must elapse between the departure of the ship of, either belligerent before that of the other.
The order of departure shall be regulated by the order of arrival, unless the vessel arriving first is entitled to a prolongation of the legal period of its stay.
A belligerent ship of war may not leave a neutral port or roadstead until at least twenty-four hours after the departure of a merchant vessel carrying the flag of its adversary.
Art. 17.—In neutral ports and roadsteads, belligerent ships of war may only repair damage to the extent indispensable for their seaworthiness, and may not, in any way, increase their military strength. The neutral authority will ascertain the nature of the repairs to be executed, which shall be carried out as rapidly as possible.
Art. 18.—Belligerent ships of war may not make use of neutral ports, roadsteads and territorial waters for the purpose of renewing or increasing their military equipment or armament or for completing their crews.
Art. 19.—Belligerent ships may not revictual in neutral ports or roadsteads, except to complete their normal supplies as in time of peace. These ships may also only take on board the fuel necessary for the purpose of reaching the nearest port of their own country. They may also take in fuel sufficient to fill up their bunkers properly so called if they are in a neutral country which has adopted this method of fixing the amount of fuel to be supplied.
If, according to the law of the neutral power, ships may only receive coal twenty-four hours after their arrival, the legal period of their stay is prolonged for twenty-four hours.
Art. 20.—Belligerent ships of war which have taken in fuel in the port of a neutral power cannot renew their supply in a port of the same power within three months.
Art. 21.—A prize may not be brought into a neutral port except by reason of its unseaworthiness, or of the stress of weather or of insufficiency of fuel or provisions. It must leave again as soon as the cause of its entry has ceased. If it does not do so, the neutral power shall give it notice to leave immediately, and in the event of its not complying therewith, the neutral power shall use the means at its disposal to release it with its officers and crew and intern the crew placed on board by the captor.
Art. 22.—The neutral power shall also release any prize which has been brought in not in accordance with the conditions laid down in Art. 21.
Art. 23.—A neutral power may allow access to its ports and roadsteads to prizes, whether escorted or not, when they have been brought there to be left in sequestration pending the decision of a prize court. It may have the prize conducted to any other of its ports.
If the prize is escorted by a ship of war, the officers and men placed on board by the captor are allowed to go on board the escorting ship.
If the prize is navigating alone, the personnel placed on board is set at liberty.
Art. 24.—If, in spite of notice from the neutral authority, a belligerent ship of war does not leave a port in which it has no right to remain, the neutral power has the right to take such steps as it may think proper to render the ship incapable of going to sea during the continuance of the war, and the commander of the ship must facilitate the taking of such steps. When a belligerent ship is detained by a neutral power, the officers and crew are also detained.
The officers and crew thus detained may be left on board the ship or lodged on board another vessel or on shore, and they may be subjected to such restrictive measures as may be considered necessary to be imposed on them. In any event, sufficient men must be left on board the ship to keep it in order.
The officers may be released on giving their parole not to leave the neutral territory without permission.
Art. 25.—A neutral power is bound to exercise the surveillance of which the means in its power admit, to prevent within its
