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." 27 CIVIL RIGHTS AND REMEDIES DURING WAR. 108. As between the hostile parties, war in general suspends civil rights and remedies. Contracts. War, in general, suspends existing contracts and terminates the capacity to make new contracts.28 Naturally, also, it makes the performance of certain contracts physically impossible. Agency. Agency is similarly conditioned by war. Insurance. In case of insurance, while the policies may be extinguished by war, the insured is generally entitled at the close of the war to equitable value of the policy.29 by companies or private individuals owning telegraph or telephone cables or wireless telegraphy apparatus." Hague Convention, 1907, Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers and Persons in Case of War on Land, Appendix, p. 547. 27 Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers in War on Land, art. XXVII, 28 Scholefield v. Eichelberger, 7 Pet. 586, 8 L. Ed. 793. 29 Mr. Justice Bradley said, in the case of N. Y. Life Ins. Co. v. Statham, 93 U. S. 24, 23 L. Ed. 789: "We are of the opinion, therefore, first, that, as the companies elected to insist upon the condition in these cases, the policies in question must be regarded as extinguished by the nonpayment of the premiums, though caused by the existence of the war, and that an action will not lie for the amount insured thereon. "Secondly, that, such failure being caused by a public war, without the fault of the assured, they are entitled ex æquo et bono to recover the equitable value of the policies, with interest from the close of the war." Fire insurance. Semmes v. Hartford Ins. Co., 13 Wall. 158, 20 L Ed. 490. See Wambaugh, Cases on Insurance, 651, note. Interest on Obligations. Interest on obligations is usually suspended during war, if the parties are themselves in the jurisdiction of the hostile belligerents, and the creditor is not represented by an agent within the jurisdiction of the debtor.30 Partnership. Partnerships, where one partner is within the jurisdiction of one belligerent and the other within the jurisdiction of the other belligerent, are in general dissolved.31 Intercourse and Trade. Rights of intercourse and trade are in general suspended, and when trade or intercourse is carried on it is liable to the risks of war, without remedy, and sometimes is specially penalized. Non-Intercourse Acts. Penalties for entering upon trade or other commercial relations with an enemy are sometimes prescribed in non-intercourse acts. Such an act in regard to dealing in Russian securities was passed during the Crimean War by Great Britain,32 and general acts were passed by the United States Congress in 1861.33 30 Ward v. Smith, 7 Wall. 447, 19 L. Ed. 207. 31 "In a foreign or international war, from the time it is declared or recognized, all the people in the territory and subject to the dominion of each belligerent, without regard to their feelings, dispositions, or natural relations, become in legal contemplation, and so continue to the close of hostilities, the enemies of all the people resident in the territory of the other belligerent; and all negotiation, trading, intercourse, or communication between them, unless licensed by the government, is unlawful. Such a war, as between the citizens or subjects of the respective belligerents, ipso facto dissolves all commercial partnerships and all contracts wholly executory and requiring for their continued existence commercial intercourse or communication; and while it does not abrogate, yet it suspends, all other existing contracts and obligations and the remedies thereon, and renders all contracts, with rare exceptions, entered into pending hostilities, illegal and void." Small's Administrator v. Lumpkin's Executrix, 28 Grat. (Va.) 832. 82 St. 17 & 18 Vict. c. 123. 83 12 Stat. 255, 404. Remedies. The courts of one belligerent are in general closed to persons domiciled within the jurisdiction of the other belligerent.34 84 The Prize Cases, 2 Black, 671, 17 L. Ed. 459. "It is certainly true that, as to individuals, their right to sue in the courts of a belligerent, or to hold or enforce civil rights, depends, not on their birth and native allegiance, but on the character which they hold at the time when these rights are sought to be enforced. A neutral, or a citizen of the United States, who is domiciled in the enemy's country, not only in respect to his property, but also as to his capacity to sue, is deemed as much an alien enemy as a person actually born under the allegiance and residing within the dominions of the hostile nation. This, indeed, has long been settled as the general law of nations, and enforced in the tribunals of prize, and has been latterly recognized and confirmed in the municipal courts of other nations. And the same principle has been applied to a house of trade established in a hostile country, although the parties might happen to have a neutral domicile; the property of the house being, for such purpose, considered as affected with the hostile character of the country in which it is employed." Mr. Justice Story, in case of Society for Propagation of the Gospel v. Wheeler, 2 Gall. 127, Fed. Cas. No. 13,156. 109. Persons within belligerent jurisdiction are in general regarded as having enemy character, and, if not nationals of the enemy state, as liable to the consequences of association with the enemy. The simple fact of being within belligerent jurisdiction makes a person, whatever his allegiance and whatever his conduct, liable to the hardships of war.1 He may be restrained in his liberty, and is liable to injury consequent upon the legitimate conduct of hostilities; i. e., in the time of siege he might be detained within the lines and become liable to the consequences of such detention, though it is customary to allow noncombatants to withdraw. A neutral person, domiciled within belligerent jurisdiction, is liable to an equable portion of the war taxes and other burdens. His ships upon the high seas may be treated as enemy merchant ships. COMBATANTS AND NONCOMBATANTS. 110. The status of persons may be determined by their conduct, usually as combatant or noncombatant. In early practice a state at war regarded and treated all persons, wherever found, owning allegiance to an enemy state, as properly subject to hostile measures, such as the deprivation of liberty or more severe treatment. 1 General orders 100, U. S. War Dept. April 24, 1863, No. 21. See Appendix, p. 491. WILS. INT. L-18 At the present time the fact of allegiance is to a large extent ignored in the time of hostilities, and the question of war status is mainly determined by conduct. Combatant status is extended to those who under government sanction engaged either directly or indirectly in the operations of war, and under exceptional cases to those who without government authorization defend themselves from belligerent attack. The following is the provision of the Hague Convention of 1907 Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land: "Chapter I.-The Qualifications of Belligerents. "Article I. The laws, rights, and duties of war apply not only to armies, but also to militia and volunteer corps fulfilling the following conditions: "1. To be commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates; "2. To have a fixed distinctive emblem recognizable at a distance; "3. To carry arms openly; and "4. To conduct their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war. "In countries where militia or volunteer corps constitute the army, or form part of it, they are included under the denomination ‘army.' "Article II. The inhabitants of a territory which has not been occupied, who, on the approach of the enemy, spontaneously take up arms to resist the invading troops without having had time to organize themselves in accordance with article I, shall be regarded as belligerents if they carry arms openly and if they respect the laws and customs of war. "Article III. The armed forces of the belligerent parties. may consist of combatants and noncombatants. In the case of capture by the enemy, both have a right to be treated as prisoners of war." Similarly those regularly commissioned for maritime warfare are combatants. As, under article II above, resistance to attack on land may be allowed, so on the sea the officers and crew of a merchant vessel who by force defend themselves from attack are re |