The Hague Convention,
Hague Convention XIII (18 October 1907)
Convention Concerning the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers in Naval War
Articles 1 - 33
Entry into Force: 26 January 1910
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------
With a view to harmonizing the divergent views which, in the event of naval
war, are still held on the relations between neutral Powers and belligerent
Powers, and to anticipating the difficulties to which such divergence of
views might give rise;
Seeing that, even if it is not possible at present to concert measures applicable
to all circumstances which may in practice occur, it is nevertheless undeniably
advantageous to frame, as far as possible, rules of general application
to meet the case where war has unfortunately broken out;
Seeing that, in cases not covered by the present Convention, it is expedient
to take into consideration the general principles of the law of nations;
Seeing that it is desirable that the Powers should issue detailed enactments
to regulate the results of the attitude of neutrality when adopted by them
;
Seeing that it is, for neutral Powers, an admitted duty to apply these rules
impartially to the several belligerents;
Seeing that, in this category of ideas, these rules should not, in principle
, be altered, in the course of the war, by a neutral Power, except in a case
where experience has shown the necessity for such change for the protection
of the rights of that Power;
Have agreed to observe the following common rules, which cannot however modify
provisions laid down in existing general treaties, and have appointed as
their Plenipotentiaries, namely:
(Here follow the names of Plenipotentiaries)
Who, after having deposited their full powers, found in good and due form
, have agreed upon the following provisions:
Article 1. Belligerents are bound to respect the sovereign rights of neutral
Powers and to abstain, in neutral territory or neutral waters, from any
act which would, if knowingly permitted by any Power, constitute a violation
of neutrality.
Art. 2. Any act of hostility, including capture and the exercise of the right
of search, committed by belligerent war-ships in the territorial waters
of a neutral Power, constitutes a violation of neutrality and is strictly
forbidden.
Art. 3. When a ship has been captured in the territorial waters of a neutral
Power, this Power must employ, if the prize is still within its jurisdiction
, the means at its disposal to release the prize with its officers and crew
, and to intern the prize crew.
If the prize is not in the jurisdiction of the neutral Power, the captor
Government, on the demand of that Power, must liberate the prize with its
officers and crew.
Art. 4. A prize court cannot be set up by a belligerent on neutral territory
or on a vessel in neutral waters.
Art. 5. Belligerents are forbidden to use neutral ports and waters as a base
of naval operations against their adversaries, and in particular to erect
wireless telegraphy stations or any apparatus for the purpose of communicating
with the belligerent forces on land or sea.
Art. 6. The supply, in any manner, directly or indirectly, by a neutral Power
to a belligerent Power, of war-ships, ammunition, or war material of any
kind whatever, is forbidden.
Art. 7. A neutral Power is not bound to prevent the export or transit, for
the use of either belligerent, of arms, ammunition, or, in general, of anything
which could be of use to an army or fleet.
Art. 8. A neutral Government is bound to employ the means at its disposal
to prevent the fitting out or arming of any vessel within its jurisdiction
which it has reason to believe is intended to cruise, or engage in hostile
operations, against a Power with which that Government is at peace. It is
also bound to display the same vigilance to prevent the departure from its
jurisdiction of any vessel intended to cruise, or engage in hostile operations
, which had been adapted entirely or partly within the said jurisdiction
for use in war.
Art. 9. A neutral Power must apply impartially to the two belligerents the
conditions, restrictions, or prohibitions made by it in regard to the admission
into its ports, roadsteads, or territorial waters, of belligerent war-ships
or of their prizes.
Nevertheless, a neutral Power may forbid a belligerent vessel which has failed
to conform to the orders and regulations made by it, or which has violated
neutrality, to enter its ports or roadsteads.
Art. 10. The neutrality of a Power is not affected by the mere passage through
its territorial waters of war-ships or prizes belonging to belligerents.
Art. 11. A neutral Power may allow belligerent war-ships to employ its licensed
pilots.
Art. 12. In the absence of special provisions to the contrary in the legislation
of a neutral Power, belligerent war-ships are not permitted to remain in
the ports, roadsteads, or territorial waters of the said Power for more
than twenty-four hours, except in the cases covered by the present Convention
.
Art. 13. If a Power which has been informed of the outbreak of hostilities
learns that a belligerent war-ship is in one of its ports or roadsteads,
or in its territorial waters, it must notify the said ship to depart within
twenty-four hours or within the time prescribed by local regulations.
Art. 14. A belligerent war-ship may not prolong its stay in a neutral port
beyond the permissible time except on account of damage or stress of weather
. It must depart as soon as the cause of the delay is at an end.
The regulations as to the question of the length of time which these vessels
may remain in neutral ports, roadsteads, or waters, do not apply to war-
ships devoted exclusively to religious, scientific, or philanthropic purposes
.
Art. 15. In the absence of special provisions to the contrary in the legislation
of a neutral Power, the maximum number of warships belonging to a belligerent
which may be in one of the ports or roadsteads of that Power simultaneously
shall be three.
Art. 16. When war-ships belonging to both belligerents are present simultaneously
in a neutral port or roadstead, a period of not less than twenty-four hours
must elapse between the departure of the ship belonging to one belligerent
and the departure of the ship belonging to the other.
The order of departure is determined by the order of arrival, unless the
ship which arrived first is so circumstanced that an extension of its stay
is permissible.
A belligerent war-ship may not leave a neutral port or roadstead until twenty
-four hours after the departure of a merchant ship flying the flag of its
adversary.
Art. 17. In neutral ports and roadsteads belligerent war-ships may only carry
out such repairs as are absolutely necessary to render them seaworthy, and
may not add in any manner whatsoever to their fighting force. The local
authorities of the neutral Power shall decide what repairs are necessary,
and these must be carried out with the least possible delay.
Art. 18. Belligerent war-ships may not make use of neutral ports, roadsteads
, or territorial waters for replenishing or increasing their supplies of
war material or their armament, or for completing their crews.
Art. 19. Belligerent war-ships may only revictual in neutral ports or roadsteads
to bring up their supplies to the peace standard.
Similarly these vessels may only ship sufficient fuel to enable them to reach
the nearest port in their own country. They may, on the other hand, fill
up their bunkers built to carry fuel, when in neutral countries which have
adopted this method of determining the amount of fuel to be supplied.
If, in accordance with the law of the neutral Power, the ships are not supplied
with coal within twenty-four hours of their arrival, the permissible duration
of their stay is extended by twenty-four hours.
Art. 20. Belligerent war-ships which have shipped fuel in a port belonging
to a neutral Power may not within the succeeding three months replenish
their supply in a port of the same Power.
Art. 21. A prize may only be brought into a neutral port on account of unseaworthiness
, stress of weather, or want of fuel or provisions.
It must leave as soon as the circumstances which justified its entry are
at an end. If it does not, the neutral Power must order it to leave at once
; should it fail to obey, the neutral Power must employ the means at its
disposal to release it with its officers and crew and to intern the prize
crew.
Art. 22. A neutral Power must, similarly, release a prize brought into one
of its ports under circumstances other than those referred to in Article
21.
Art. 23. A neutral Power may allow prizes to enter its ports and roadsteads
, whether under convoy or not, when they are brought there to be sequestrated
pending the decision of a Prize Court. It may have the prize taken to another
of its ports.
If the prize is convoyed by a war-ship, the prize crew may go on board the
convoying ship.
If the prize is not under convoy, the prize crew are left at liberty.
Art. 24. If, notwithstanding the notification of the neutral Power, a belligerent
ship of war does not leave a port where it is not entitled to remain, the
neutral Power is entitled to take such measures as it considers necessary
to render the ship incapable of taking the sea during the war, and the commanding
officer of the ship must facilitate the execution of such measures.
When a belligerent ship is detained by a neutral Power, the officers and
crew are likewise detained.
The officers and crew thus detained may be left in the ship or kept either
on another vessel or on land, and may be subjected to the measures of restriction
which it may appear necessary to impose upon them. A sufficient number of
men for looking after the vessel must, however, be always left on board.
The officers may be left at liberty on giving their word not to quit the
neutral territory without permission.
Art. 25. A neutral Power is bound to exercise such surveillance as the means
at its disposal allow to prevent any violation of the provisions of the
above Articles occurring in its ports or roadsteads or in its waters.
Art. 26. The exercise by a neutral Power of the rights laid down in the present
Convention can under no circumstances be considered as an unfriendly act
by one or other belligerent who has accepted the articles relating thereto
.
Art. 27. The Contracting Powers shall communicate to each other in due course
all laws, proclamations, and other enactments regulating in their respective
countries the status of belligerent war-ships in their ports and waters,
by means of a communication addressed to the Government of the Netherlands
, and forwarded immediately by that Government to the other Contracting Powers
.
Art. 28. The provisions of the present Convention do not apply except between
Contracting Powers, and then only if all the belligerents are parties to
the Convention.
Art. 29. The present Convention shall be ratified as soon as possible. The
ratifications shall be deposited at The Hague.
The first deposit of ratifications shall be recorded in a proc鑣- verbal
signed by the representatives of the Powers which take part therein and by
the Netherlands Minister for Foreign Affairs.
The subsequent deposits of ratifications shall be made by means of a written
notification addressed to the Netherlands Government and accompanied by
the instrument of ratification.
A duly certified copy of the proc鑣-verbal relative to the first deposit
of ratifications, of the ratifications mentioned in the preceding paragraph
, as well as of the instruments of ratification, shall be at once sent by
the Netherlands Government, through the diplomatic channel, to the Powers
invited to the Second Peace Conference, as well as to the other Powers which
have adhered to the Convention. In the cases contemplated in the preceding
paragraph, the said Government shall inform them at the same time of the
date on which it received the notification.
Art. 30. Non-Signatory Powers may adhere to the present Convention. The Power
which desires to adhere notifies in writing its intention to the Netherlands
Government, forwarding to it the act of adhesion, which shall be deposited
in the archives of the said Government.
That Government shall at once transmit to all the other Powers a duly certified
copy of the notification as well as of the act of adhesion, mentioning the
date on which it received the notification.
Art. 31. The present Convention shall come into force in the case of the
Powers which were a party to the first deposit of the ratifications, sixty
days after the date of the proc鑣-verbal of that deposit, and, in the case
of the Powers who ratify subsequently or who adhere, sixty days after the
notification of their ratification or of their decision has been received
by the Netherlands Government.
Art. 32. In the event of one of the Contracting Powers wishing to denounce
the present Convention, the denunciation shall be notified in writing to
the Netherlands Government, who shall at once communicate a duly certified
copy of the notification to all the other Powers, informing them of the
date on which it was received.
The denunciation shall only have effect in regard to the notifying Power,
and one year after the notification has been made to the Netherlands Government
.
Art. 33. A register kept by the Netherlands Ministry for Foreign Affairs
shall give the date of the deposit of ratifications made by Article 29, paragraphs
3 and 4, as well as the date on which the notifications of adhesion (Article
30, paragraph 2) or of denunciation (Article 32, paragraph 1) have been
received.
Each Contracting Power is entitled to have access to this register and to
be supplied with duly certified extracts.
In faith whereof the Plenipotentiaries have appended their signatures to
the present Convention.
Done at The Hague, 18 October 1907, in a single copy, which shall remain
deposited in the archives of the Netherlands Government, and duly certified
copies of which shall be sent, through the diplomatic channel, to the Powers
which have been invited to the Second Peace Conference.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------
Return to Hague Convention homepage
Return to World War I Document Archive
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------
Comments, corrections and suggestions are welcome
for questions of content: Jane Plotke (cd078@gwpda.org)
or for questions of form: Richard Hacken (Hacken @ byu.edu).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------
Last Updated: February 10, 1996.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------
--
FROM 218.244.240.131