CHAPTER III.-Sick and Wounded.

ARTICLE 21.

The obligations of the belligerents regarding the care of the sick and wounded shall be governed by the Geneva Convention.

SECTION II.-HOSTILITIES.

CHAPTER I.-The means of injuring the enemy, sieges and

bombardments.

ARTICLE 22.

Belligerents have not an unlimited right in the choice of means of injuring the enemy.

ARTICLE 23.

Besides the prohibitions established by special conventions, it is particularly forbidden:

a. To use poison or poisoned weapons.

b. To kill or wound through treachery persons belonging to the hostile nation or army.

c. To kill or wound an enemy who, having laid down his arms or having no longer any means of defense, has surrendered at discretion.

d. To declare that no quarter will be given.

e. To employ weapons, projectiles, or substances of such a nature as to cause unnecessary pain.

f. To make improper use of the flag of truce, of the national flag, or of the military insignia and uniform of the enemy, as well as of the distinctive signs of the Geneva Convention.

g. To destroy or seize property belonging to the enemy, except where such destruction or seizure is imperiously demanded by the necessities of the war.

h. To declare extinguished, suspended, or barred the rights and choses in action of the nationals of the adversary.

A belligerent is also prohibited from compelling the nationals of the adversary to take part in military operations against their country, even in case they were in his service before the commencement of the war.

ARTICLE 24.

Strategems and the employment of the necessary means to obtain information concerning the enemy and the topography of the country are considered permissible.

ARTICLE 25.

It is forbidden to attack or bombard undefended cities, villages, dwellings, or buildings, whatever be the means employed.

ARTICLE 26.

The commander of the attacking forces shall, before commencing bombardment, do everything in his power to warn the authorities, except in case of an attack by main force.

ARTICLE 27.

During sieges and bombardments all necessary measures should be taken to spare, as far as possible, buildings devoted to religious worship, arts, science, and charity, historical monuments, hospitals, and places of assembly of sick and wounded, provided they be not used at the same time for a military purpose.

It shall be the duty of the besieged to designate these buildings or places of assembly by special visible signs which shall be made known beforehand to the besieger.

ARTICLE 28.

The giving up of a city or place to plunder, even when taken by assault, is prohibited.

CHAPTER II.-Spies.

ARTICLE 29.

No person shall be considered as a spy except such as, acting clandestinely or under a false pretext, obtains or seeks to obtain information within the zone of operations of a belligerent with the intention of communicating them to the adversary.

Therefore, undisguised soldiers who have entered the zone of operations of the hostile army for the purpose of obtaining information shall not be considered as spies. Neither shall soldiers or civilians openly performing their duties and engaged in the transmission of dispatches, either to their own or the hostile army, be so considered. This applies equally to individuals sent in balloons for the purpose of transmitting dispatches, and the general keeping up of communications between the different parts of an army or territory.

ARTICLE 30.

A spy caught in the act shall not be punished without first having a trial.

ARTICLE 31.

A spy who, having rejoined the army to which he belongs, is captured later on by the enemy, shall be treated as a prisoner of war and shall incur no responsibility for his previous acts as a spy.

CHAPTER III.-Envoys bearing flags of truce.
ARTICLE 32.

A person authorized by one of the belligerents to enter into negotiations with the other and appearing with a white flag shall be considered as an envoy. He, as well as the trumpeter, bugler, or drummer, the flag-bearer, and interpreter accompanying him, shall be held inviolable.

ARTICLE 33.

A military commander to whom an envoy is sent is not obliged to receive him under all circumstances.

He may take all measures necessary in order to prevent the envoy from taking advantage of his mission for the purpose of gaining information.

In case of abuse, he has a right to detain the envoy temporarily.

ARTICLE 34.

The envoy shall lose his rights to inviolability if it is positively and irrefutably proven that he has availed himself of his privileged position in order to provoke or commit an act of treason.

CHAPTER IV.-Capitulations.

ARTICLE 35.

Capitulations made between the contracting parties must take into account the rules of military honor.

Once agreed upon, they should be scrupulously observed by both parties.

CHAPTER V.-Armistices.

ARTICLE 36.

An armistice suspends military operations by mutual agreement of the belligerent parties. If the duration thereof is not fixed, the belligerent parties may resume operations at any time provided, however, that the enemy is opportunely notified in accordance with the conditions of the armistice.

ARTICLE 37.

The armistice may be general or local. The former suspends warlike operations between the belligerent nations everywhere; the latter only between certain parts of the belligerent armies and within a certain district.

ARTICLE 38.

The armistice should be made known officially and in due time to the proper authorities and to the troops. Hostilities are immediately suspended after the notification or at the appointed time.

ARTICLE 39.

The contracting parties shall determine in the clauses of the armistice the relations which shall take place with the inhabitants and between themselves about the seat of war.

ARTICLE 40.

Any serious violation of the armistice by either party shall give the other a right to denounce it and even to resume hostilities at once in urgent cases.

ARTICLE 41.

A violation of the clauses of the armistice by individuals acting on their own initiative shall only give a right to demand the punishment of the guilty persons and an indemnity for the losses sustained, if any there be.

SECTION III.-MILITARY AUTHORITY UPON THE TERRITORY OF THE ENEMY.

ARTICLE 42.

A territory is considered as being occupied when it is actually under the authority of the hostile army.

The occupation extends only to the regions where this authority is established and capable of being asserted.

ARTICLE 43.

When the legally constituted authority has actually passed into the hands of the occupant, the latter shall take all measures within his power to restore and, as far as possible, to insure public order and life, respecting the laws in force in the country unless absolutely prevented.

ARTICLE 44.

A belligerent is forbidden to compel the inhabitants of an occupied territory to furnish information concerning the army of the other belligerent or concerning his means of defense.

ARTICLE 45.

Compelling the people of an occupied territory to take an oath of allegiance to a hostile power is prohibited.

ARTICLE 46.

The honor and the rights of the family, the life of individuals, and private property, as well as religious convictions and religious worship, should be respected.

Private property shall not be confiscated.

ARTICLE 47.

Looting is positively forbidden.

ARTICLE 48.

If the taxes, duties, and tolls established for the benefit of the nation are collected by the occupant within the occupied territory, it shall be done as far as possible in accordance with the rules of assessment and distribution in force, the occupant incurring the obligation to defray the expenses of administration of the occupied territory to the extent to which the legal government was obliged to do so.

ARTICLE 49.

If, besides the taxes referred to in the foregoing paragraph, the occupant collects other contributions in money in the occupied territory, it shall only be for the needs of the army or of the administration of said territory.