Sa Majesté le Roi de Serbie-Continued.

Son Excellence M. Milovan Milovanovitch, Son envoyé extraordinaire et ministre plénipotentiaire à Rome, membre de la cour permanente d'arbitrage;

Son Excellence M. Michel Militchevitch, Son envoyé extraordinaire et ministre plénipotentiaire à Londres et à La Haye. Sa Majesté le Roi de Siam:

Mom Chatidej Udom, major-général;

M. C. Corragioni d'Orelli, Son conseiller de légation;
Luang Bhuvanarth Narübal, capitaine.

Sa Majesté le Roi de Suède, des Goths et des Vendes:

Son Excellence M. Knut Hjalmar Leonard Hammarskjold, Son ancien ministre de la justice, Son envoyé extraordinaire et ministre plénipotentiaire à Copenhague, membre de la cour permanente d'arbitrage;

M. Johannes Hellner, Son ancien ministre sans portefeuille, ancien membre de la cour suprême de Suède, membre de la cour permanente d'arbitrage.

Le Conseil Fédéral Suisse :

Son Excellence M. Gaston Carlin, envoyé extraordinaire et ministre plénipotentiaire de la Confédération suisse à Londres et à La Haye;

M. Eugène Borel, colonel d'état major-général, professeur à l'université de Genève;

M. Max Huber, professeur de droit à l'université de Zürich. Sa Majesté l'Empereur des Ottomans:

Son Excellence Turkhan Pacha, Son ambassadeur extraordinaire,
ministre de l'evkaf;

Son Excellence Rechid Bey, Son ambassadeur à Rome;
Son Excellence Mehemmed Pacha, vice-amiral.

Le Président de la République Orientale de l'Uruguay:

Son Excellence M. José Batlle y Ordoñez, ancien président de la République, membre de la cour permanente d'arbitrage; Son Excellence M. Juan P. Castro, ancien président du sénat, envoyé extraordinaire et ministre plénipotentiaire de la République à Paris, membre de la cour permanente d'arbitrage. Le Président des États-Unis de Vénézuéla:

M. José Gil Fortoul, chargé d'affaires de la République à
Berlin.

Who, after having deposited their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon the following:

ARTICLE I.

The Contracting Powers shall issue instructions to their armed land forces which shall be in conformity with the Regulations respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land, annexed to the present Convention.

ARTICLE II.

The provisions contained in the Regulations referred to in Article I, as well as in the present Convention, do not apply except between Contracting Powers, and then only if all the belligerents are parties to the Convention.

ARTICLE III.

A belligerent party which violates the provisions of the said Regulations shall, if the case demands, be liable to pay compensation. It shall be responsible for all acts committed by persons forming part of its armed forces.

ARTICLE IV.

The present Convention, duly ratified, shall as between the Contracting Powers, be substituted for the Convention of the 29th July, 1899, respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land.

The Convention of 1899 remains in force as between the Powers which signed it, and which do not also ratify the present Convention. ARTICLE V.

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 procès-verbal signed by the Representatives of the Powers which take part therein and by the Netherland Minister for Foreign Affairs.

The subsequent deposits of ratifications shall be made by means of a written notification, addressed to the Netherland Government and accompanied by the instrument of ratification.

A duly certified copy of the procès-verbal relative to the first deposit of ratifications, of the notifications mentioned in the preceding paragraph, as well as of the instruments of ratification, shall be immediately sent by the Netherland 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 at the same time inform them of the date on which it received the notification.

ARTICLE VI.

Non-Signatory Powers may adhere to the present Convention.

The Power which desires to adhere notifies in writing its intention to the Netherland Government, forwarding to it the act of adhesion, which shall be deposited in the archives of the said Government.

This 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.

ARTICLE VII.

The present Convention shall come into force, in the case of the Powers which were a party to the first deposit of ratifications sixty days after the date of the procès-verbal of this deposit, and, in the case of the Powers which ratify subsequently or which adhere, sixty days after the notification of their ratification or of their adhesion has been received by the Netherland Government.

ARTICLE VIII.

In the event of one of the Contracting Powers wishing to denounce the present Convention, the denunciation shall be notified in writing to the Netherland Government, which 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 reached the Netherland Government.

ARTICLE IX.

A register kept by the Netherland Ministry for Foreign Affairs shall give the date of the deposit of ratifications made in virtue of Article V, paragraphs 3 and 4, as well as the date on which the notifications of adhesion (Article VI, paragraph 2) or of denunciation (Article VIII, paragraph 1) were 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, the 18th October, 1907, in a single copy, which shall remain deposited in the archives of the Netherland 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.

1. Pour l'Allemagne. Sous réserve de l'article 44 du Règlement annexé.

MARSCHALL.
KRIEGE.

2. Pour les Etats Unis d'Ame- JOSEPH H. CHOATE.

12. Pour la République de Cuba: ANTONIO S. DE BUSTAMANTE,

GONZALO DE QUESADA.

MANUEL SANGUILY.

23. Pour le Japon. Avec Ré- AIMARO SATO.

Regulations respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land.

SECTION I.-ON BELLIGERENTS.

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 con

ditions:

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.