Weapons and the Law of Armed Conflict

Second Edition

William H. Boothby

Comprehensively examines the rules applicable to every category of weaponry
Explains the law as it applies to all states
Analyses the legal review of weapons, both from the perspective of how such reviews should be undertaken and how such a system should be established
Discusses prospects for future rule change

New to this Edition:

Discusses recent developments in the law, including the Arms Trade Treaty and the amendments to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court agreed at the Review Conference in Kampala
Investigates the legal implications of technical developments in the fields of cyber weapons, drones, automated and autonomous weapons, electromagnetic microwave counter-IED weapons, nanotechnology, and metamaterials
Considers the law applying to weapons in outer space
References new International Manuals including the Air and Missile Warfare Law Manual, the Tallinn Manual on the International Law applicable to Cyber Warfare, the German Defence Ministry Law of Armed Conflict Manual, and the US Department of Defense Law of War Manual

Weapons and the Law of Armed Conflict

Second Edition

William H. Boothby

Description

Bringing together the law of armed conflict governing the use of weapons into a single volume, the fully updated Second Edition of Weapons and the Law of Armed Conflict interprets these rules and discusses the factors influencing future developments in weapons law. After relating the historical evolution of weapons law, the book discusses the important customary principles that are the foundation of the subject, and provides a condensed account of the law that exists on the use of weapons. The treaties and customary rules applying to particular categories of weapon are thereafter listed and explained article by article and rule by rule in a series of chapters. Having stated the law as it is, the book then explores the way in which this dynamic field of international law develops in the light of various influences. The legal review of weapons is discussed, both from the perspective of how such reviews should be undertaken and how such a system should be established. Having stated the law as it is, the book then investigates the way in which this dynamic field of international law develops in the light of various influences. In the final chapter, the prospects for future rule change are considered.

This Second Edition includes a discussion of new treaty law on expanding bullets, the arms trade, and norms in relation to biological and chemical weapons. It also analyses the International Manuals on air and missile warfare law and on cyber warfare law, the challenges posed by 'lethal autonomous weapon systems', and developments in the field of information and telecommunications otherwise known as cyber activities.

Weapons and the Law of Armed Conflict

Second Edition

William H. Boothby

1:Introduction
2:The Evolution of the Law of Weaponry
3:Components of the International Law of Weaponry
4:The Use of Weapons and the Law of Targeting
5:Customary Principles-Superfluous Injury and Unnecessary Suffering
6:Customary Principles-Indiscriminate Weapons
7:Weapons and the Environment
8:Conventional Weapons Convention
9:Poison, Poisoned Weapons, Asphyxiating Gases, Biological and Chemical Weapons
10:Firearms, Bullets, and Analogous Projectiles
11:Mines, Booby-traps, and Other Devices
12:Rules Relating to Other Specific Technologies
13:Nuclear Weapons
14:Applying Weapons Law to Particular Weapon Systems
15:Cluster Munitions
16:Maritime and Outer Space Weapons
17:Unexploded and Abandoned Weapons
18:Non-International Armed Conflict
19:Compliance with International Weapons Law
20:Technology, Humanitarian Concern and the Future

Weapons and the Law of Armed Conflict

Second Edition

William H. Boothby

Author Information

William H. Boothby, Former Deputy Director of Legal Services, Royal Air Force

Dr Bill Boothby retired as Deputy Director of Legal Services (RAF) in 2011 having obtained his Doktor Iuris from the Europa Universitaet Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder) in Germany in 2009. He was a member of the Group of Experts that prepared the HPCR Manual on the Law of Air and Missile Warfare and was also a member of the Group of Experts, and of the Drafting Committee, of the Tallinn Manual. He teaches at Royal Holloway College, University of London, at the Australian National University, Canberra and at the University of Durham. He writes and presents regularly on a variety of international law issues.