Chapter 2 explains the procedural character of Article 36 and examines its origins. It first tests the possibility that Article 36 represents a restatement or revised version of a similar provision found elsewhere in the law of armed conflict. To that end, it explores 13 international instruments that regulate the use of weapons in war and that were adopted prior to the 1974-1977 Diplomatic Conference where Article 36 was negotiated. The analysis reveals that none of the pre-existing international compliance mechanisms resemble the AP I weapons review provision. The chapter then examines the drafting materials. Whilst no unequivocal evidence on the motives for adopting a provision on weapons review can be found in the Official Records of the 1974-1977 Diplomatic Conference, there is sufficient evidence to conclude that the key States behind Article 36 were Germany and the United Kingdom. The General Legal Provisions relating to the Conduct of Hostilities and War on Land, operative in Germany since 1961 and mandating that weapons be developed in accordance with the requirements of existing legal regulations, might well be a predecessor to Article 36. [182 words]

The introduction sets out the scope and objectives of the study, locating it within the relevant literature and diplomatic context of State Party negotiations over parental child abduction.

This chapter consists of two parts. The first part is an account of the influence that military technological advancements have had on development of the law governing armed conflict. Beginning in the 1860s, it recalls the points at which new weapon technologies have prompted legal responses in the form of treaties, declarations and other instruments. It concludes with the establishment of the International Criminal Court after discussing the two developments of most relevance to the book: the drafting of the Additional Protocols to the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, the latter being the convention under which regulation of autonomous weapons is being debated. The second part discusses the public debate about autonomous weapons beginning with the growth of broad public interest in the early 2000s and the contributions of roboticists, ethicists and other academics. It then covers the involvement of the United Nations and ends by summarising the process by which the regulatory debate in connection with the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons began.