Article

Military necessity and humanity in international humanitarian law : preserving the delicate balance

Michael N. Schmitt

• Virginia journal of international law, Vol. 50, no. 4, 2010, p. 795-839

English, English

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This Essay examines the principle of military necessity and its current trajectory. In IHL, the principle appears in two guises: justification for normative deviation, and as an element of the lex scripta. The first notion will be quickly dispatched, for the law surrounding military necessity as a justification for violating IHL is well-settled. With regard to the latter, military necessity appears as both a specific element and a general foundational principle. Although the catalogue of direct references to military necessity in IHL is slim, the principle pervades the entire body of law by undergirding individual rules. In this central role, military necessity exists in equipoise with the principle of humanity, which seeks to limit the suffering and destruction incident to warfare. This symbiotic relationship determines in which direction, and at what speed, IHL evolves. It also determines the manner of its application on the battlefield.