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The origins, causes and enduring significance of the Martens Clause: A view from Russia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 August 2022

Vitaliy Ivanenko
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Abstract

The Martens Clause owes its name to the diplomat and jurist Fyodor Fyodorovich Martens, a representative of the Russian Empire at the First Hague Conference in 1899. Drafted and proposed by Martens during the negotiations, yet as a spontaneous compromise, the Clause has been included in the preamble of the Hague Convention with Respect to the Laws and Customs of War on Land and is still considered an important principle of international humanitarian law today. This article traces the biography and academic path of F. F. Martens and explores the enduring significance of the Martens Clause.

Keywords

international humanitarian lawlaws of armed conflictMartens ClauseF. F. Martenshumanization of warfareprotection of civiliansprotection of combatantsFirst Hague ConferenceHague Convention IIprinciples of international law
Type
Research Article
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 104 , Issue 920-921: How International Humanitarian Law Develops , August 2022 , pp. 1708 - 1724
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the ICRC.

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Footnotes

*

This article was originally written in Russian. Unless otherwise stated, all citations refer to the Russian version of the cited work. All quotations are the Review's own translation.

References

1 Hague Convention (II) with Respect to the Laws and Customs of War on Land, The Hague, 29 July 1899, preamble, para. 9 (in English).

2 Fyodor Fyodorovich Martens (1845–1909), as he was and is known in Russia, or Friedrich Fromhold Martens, as he was named at birth, or Friedrich von Martens (in English and German) or Frédéric de Martens (in Spanish and French), as he was and is known outside Russia, was a professor of St Petersburg University, world-renowned academic, international lawyer, diplomat, legal adviser and international arbitrator, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and honorary member of several foreign universities and scientific societies, and the most famous Russian international lawyer worldwide.

3 Martens, Fyodor Fyodorovich, On the Law of Private Property in Time of War, V. Golovin, St Petersburg, 1869Google Scholar.

4 Ibid., p. 2.

5 Ibid., p. 3.

6 Ibid., p. 6.

7 Ibid., p. 7.

8 Ibid., p. 7.

9 Ibid., p. 20.

10 Ibid., p. 453.

11 Danevskiy, Vsevolod Pievich, Handbook for the Study of the History and System of International Law, A. N. Gusev, Kharkov, 1882Google Scholar.

12 Ibid., p. 237.

13 Vladimir Emmanuilovich Grabar, Materials on the History of International Legal Literature in Russia (1647–1917), USSR Academy of Sciences, Мoscow, 1958, p. 440 (emphasis added).

14 F. F. Mаrtens, above note 3, p. 453 (emphasis added).

15 Fyodor Fyodorovich Martens, La paix et la guerre: La Conférence de Bruxelles, 1874, droits et devoirs des belligérants (leur application pendant la guerre d'Orient 1874–1878), la Conférence de La Haye, 1899, translated from Russian into French by M. le comte N. de Sancé, A. Rousseau, Paris, 1901, p. viii.

16 Martens, Fyodor Fyodorovich, “The Tasks of Contemporary International Law”, inaugural lecture delivered on 28 January 1871 at St Petersburg University, Journal of the Ministry of Public Education, No. 6, 1871, p. 251Google Scholar.

17 Ibid., p. 268.

18 See, for example, Fyodor Fyodorovich Martens, The Contemporary International Law of Civilized Nations, Vol. 2, USSR Ministry of Railways, St Petersburg, 1883, Section 4.

19 Letter by Fyodor Fyodorovich Martens to Minister of War Dmitry Alekseyevich Milyutin, 25 April 1872, Russian State Library, Manuscript Department, collection 169, carton 38, storage unit 2, sheets 1–2.

20 Fyodor Fyodorovich Martens, “Draft International Convention on the Laws and Customs of War”, in The Eastern War and the Brussels Conference 1874–1878, USSR Ministry of Railways, St Petersburg, 1879, Annex 1.

21 Ibid., pp. 4–5.

22 Fyodor Fyodorovich Martens, “The Hague Peace Conference. A Cultural and Historical Sketch”, The European Herald, St Petersburg, No. 3, 1900, p. 16.

23 Fyodor Fyodorovich Martens, The Eastern War and the Brussels Conference 1874–1878, USSR Ministry of Railways, St Petersburg, 1879, p. 3.

24 Fyodor Fyodorovich Martens, “On the Need to Define International Rules of War”, lecture at the meeting of the Russian Technical Society, 25 April 1881, in Notes of the Russian Technical Society, Vol. 4, 1881.

25 Pictet, Jean, Development and Principles of International Humanitarian Law, ICRC, Мoscow, 1994, p. 78Google Scholar.

26 F. F. Martens, above note 22, p. 18.

27 Pustogarov, Vladimir Vasilevich, Fyodor Fyodorovich Martens – Lawyer, Diplomat, International Relations, Мoscow, 1999, p. 268Google Scholar.

28 International Court of Justice, Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Advisory Opinion, UN Doc. A/51/218, 19 July 1996, available in English at: www.icj-cij.org/public/files/case-related/95/095-19960708-ADV-01-00-EN.pdf.

29 Leisure, Patrick, “The Martens Clause, Global Pandemics, and the Law of Armed Conflict”. Harvard International Law Journal, Vol. 62, No. 2, 2021Google Scholar.