The Military Commander's Necessity: The Law of Armed Conflict and its Limits

The idea of military necessity lies at the centre of the law of armed conflict and yet it is less than fully understood. This book analyses which legal limits govern the commander's assessment of military necessity and it is argued that military necessity itself is not a limitation. Military necessity calls for a highly discretionary exercise: the assessment. Yet, there is little guidance as to how this discretionary process should be exercised, apart from the notions of 'a reasonable military commander'. A reasonable assessment of “excessive” civilian losses are presumed to be almost intuitive. Objective standards for determining excessive civilian losses are difficult to identify, particularly when that “excessiveness” will be understood in relative terms. The perpetual question arises: are civilian losses acceptable if the war can be won? The result is a heavy burden of assessment placed on the shoulders of the military commander.

• Offers a comprehensive contemporary analysis of the legal function of military necessity in international humanitarian law of armed conflict, distinguishing military necessity from other legal concepts
• Presents the legal limits to the military commander's assessment of military necessity during conduct of hostilities and makes the application of the abstract legal concept of military necessity more concrete and exemplified for armed forces
• Discusses the balance between the commander's room for subjective manoeuvre with objective limits to the commander's assessment of military necessity showing how both a commander's margin of appreciation and objective legal limits are indispensable and intertwined