The documents presented below are linked to the articles accessible here.
Both inside and outside law schools, legal scholars took up the issue of war. Legal doctrine considered it in particular from the point of view of international relations and law and the implications of war damage. Some of the law professors were also carrying the voice of their country beyond its borders to establish a new front, that of law against force, and to rally other jurists to their cause.
- The inclusion of jurists in international power relations
- The uses of war in legal controversies in France
- Participation of jurists in the propaganda effort
- The question of war damage
The inclusion of jurists in international power relations
« Aufruf an die Kulturwelt [The Call to Civilization] », Louis Dimier, L'appel des intellectuels allemands : textes officiels et traduction avec préface et commentaire, Paris : Nouvelle librairie nationale, 1914.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.Digitalized document available here.
Faced with the accusations, notably from the British press, which followed the "sack of Leuven", German professors took up their pen to defend their country and its army, denying the violations of people's rights. This defense is particularly embodied in the "Manifesto of the 93", an address signed by 93 German academics, presented here in a version with original text and French translation.
« Les universités françaises aux universités des pays neutres », Recueil des adresses de l’Université de Paris 1886-1939.
Source: National archives, class. no 20020476/404.
French universities respond to the German manifesto with this address of November 3, 1914 to the neutral countries: they cannot remain blind to the exactions committed and must join the war of the Right on the side of the Entente.
« Les universités françaises aux universités des pays neutres », Recueil des adresses de l’Université de Paris 1886-1939 (continued).
Source: National archives, class. no 20020476/404.
« Les universités françaises aux universités des pays neutres », Recueil des adresses de l’Université de Paris 1886-1939 (end).
Source: National archives, class. no 20020476/404.
Ernst de Bunswyck (Chevalier), Le Livre rouge belge. Les atrocités allemandes en Belgique, recueil des rapports officiels et in-extenso, Paris, Bibliothèque des ouvrages documentaires, 1915.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.Digitalized document available here.
Belgian professors, the first to be affected, multiplied their publications to support this legal war. An important work in this perspective is the text presented here, which is at the same time a collection of evidence, a detailed report and a legal analysis on the violations of the law of nations committed by the Germans in Belgium since the beginning of the war.
Nyrop, Kristoffer, L'Arrestation des professeurs belges et l'Université de Gand, Paris, Librairie Payot, 1917.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.Digitalized document available here.
Another example of the construction of a legal front is this text by a Danish professor, not a jurist, who denounces the justification made by the German legation in Stockholm for the arrest of Belgian professors who had refused to participate in the new university set up by the occupier. Once again, the argument returns to the relationship between force and law.
« Louis Renault. [picture,] », L’œuvre internationale de Louis Renault (1843-1918) : in memoriam, Tome 1, Paris : Les Éditions internationales, 1932.
Source: Cujas library, class. no 44.261-1.
Louis Renault, a professor at the Paris Faculty of Law, member of the Institute and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1907, gave numerous lectures outside the country in addition to the courses in international law that he continued to give during the war. He was also an advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs throughout the war until his death in February 1918.
Louis Renault, « La guerre et le droit des gens au vingtième siècle », Journal du droit international, 42e année, 1915, n° I-II.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.Digitalized document available here.
This speech was read during the annual public session of the five Academies on October 26, 1914. In line with the address to the neutral countries, marking the commitment of the professors of the French law faculties in the " legal war", this text protests against the acts committed by the Germans in violation of international law.
Louis Renault, « De l'application du droit pénal aux faits de guerre », Journal du droit international, 42e année, 1915, n° V-VI.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.Digitalized document available here.
This text is taken from Louis Renault's communication to the Société générale des prisons. Through a combination of international law and criminal law, it demonstrates that States can apply the sanctions of their national law to enemy soldiers guilty of violating the law of nations.
« Les nouveaux ministres belges », Journal des débats politiques et littéraires, Paris 128e année, n°16, 16 January 1916, p. 2.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
« Les nouveaux ministres belges », Journal des débats politiques et littéraires, Paris 128e année, n°16, 16 January 1916, p. 2 (end).
Source gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
« Le gouvernement belge en séance au Havre », Excelsior, Paris, 9e année, n°2741, 18 May 1918, p. 4.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
On this photograph of the Belgian government in exile, one can note three jurists, professors before the war, in Leuven for Carton de Wiart and Poullet and at the Free University of Brussels for Vandervelde.
Ferdinand Larnaude et Albert Geouffre de La Pradelle, « Examen de la responsabilité de l'Empereur Guillaume II d'Allemagne », Journal du droit international, 46e année, 1919.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.Digitalized document available here.
This text takes up the report presented by Ferdinand Larnaude, dean of the Paris Faculty of Law, and Professor Albert Geouffre de La Pradelle to Clémenceau on the occasion of the Peace Conference in January 1919. Establishing the responsibility of Kaiser Wilhelm II, the authors questioned the question of its implementation before military tribunals, common law courts or even an international tribunal. The two Parisian professors were in favor of the latter solution.
The uses of war in legal controversies in France
Georges Ripert, « L'idée du droit en Allemagne et la guerre actuelle », Revue internationale de l'enseignement, 1915.
Bibliothèque Cujas, call number 45.076.Digitalized document available here.
Georges Ripert (1880-1958) was a professor at the University of Aix-en-Provence during the war. In this text, he not only denounces Germanic theories of the State, commenting in particular on Bismarck's quotation "force is right", but also looks for their origins, which he locates around 1815.
Henry Berthélemy, « Le fondement de l'autorité publique », Revue du droit public et de la science politique en France et à l'étranger, 22e année, tome 32, 1915.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.Digitalized document available here.
Henry Berthélémy (1857-1943) was a professor at the Paris Faculty of Law during the Great War. In this text organized around two questions - "What is the rule of law?" and "What is authority?" - Berthélémy attacks the idea of the public personality of the State, defended by a part of the doctrine. For him, this fiction can only lead to the "insoluble problem of the limitation of state power" solved by the Germans thanks to their barbaric theory of the self-limitation of the state.
This article was the starting point of a controversy that arose between him and the dean of the Toulouse Faculty of Law, Maurice Hauriou, in 1916, which was the occasion for an exchange of letters.
Henry Berthélemy, « Le fondement de l'autorité politique », Revue du droit public et de la science politique en France et à l'étranger, 23e année, tome 33, 1916.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.Digitalized document available here.
The correspondence between Hauriou and Berthélémy was published in the Revue de droit public et de la science politique in 1916. Hauriou defended himself from being a supporter of German doctrines and clarified his thinking to the Parisian professor. The discussion is really about the very criteria for defining administrative law.
Léon Duguit, "Le Conseil d’État et l'affaire du gaz de Bordeaux : à M. Fernand Faure", Revue politique et parlementaire, 24th year, tome 87, April-May-June 1916, pp. 264-266.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
The Great War was the occasion for a direct confrontation between several professors on a case of administrative litigation and administrative contract law. It was the so-called "Bordeaux gas" case and the decision of the Conseil d'Etat of March 30, 1916 enshrining the theory of unforeseeability that agitated the doctrine. The basic issue of the case was the financial situation of a gas concession company, which had become difficult because of the increase in the cost of raw material. Despite the extraordinary context of the war, the city of Bordeaux had refused to grant the concessionaire compensation.
In a letter addressed to Fernand Faure, Duguit gave an acerbic analysis of this decision. Although he understood in principle that a bonus for concessionary companies could be allowed, he felt that the Conseil d'Etat had stepped out of its role as judge to arrogate to itself powers that belonged only to the legislative powers.
Léon Duguit, "Le Conseil d’État et l'affaire du gaz de Bordeaux : à M. Fernand Faure", Revue politique et parlementaire, 24th year, tome 87, April-May-June 1916, pp. 264-266 (suite).
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Léon Duguit, "Le Conseil d’État et l'affaire du gaz de Bordeaux : à M. Fernand Faure", Revue politique et parlementaire, 24th year, tome 87, April-May-June 1916, pp. 264-266 (fin).
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Gaston Jèze, "La guerre et les concessionnaires de service public (compagnies de gaz)", Revue du droit public et de la science politique en France et à l'étranger, 1916, pp. 206-239.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Digitalized document available here. In his turn, Gaston Jèze (1869-1953), a professor at the Paris Faculty of Law, offers his commentary on the decision of the Conseil d'État of March 30, 1916 and the conclusions of the commissaire du gouvernement [represents the government during legal proceedings]. Recalling that the Bordeaux gas case was not an isolated case, he was generally favorable to the court's decision. Reproducing Duguit's criticisms, he partially disassociated himself from them. However, he expressed some reservations about the decision because of the procedure adopted.
Digitalized document available here. In his turn, Gaston Jèze (1869-1953), a professor at the Paris Faculty of Law, offers his commentary on the decision of the Conseil d'État of March 30, 1916 and the conclusions of the commissaire du gouvernement [represents the government during legal proceedings]. Recalling that the Bordeaux gas case was not an isolated case, he was generally favorable to the court's decision. Reproducing Duguit's criticisms, he partially disassociated himself from them. However, he expressed some reservations about the decision because of the procedure adopted.
Henry Berthélémy, "Communes et gaziers", Revue politique et parlementaire, 25th year, tome 92, Juillet-August-September 1917, pp. 23-49.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.Digitalized document available here.
Later, Berthélémy (1857-1943), a professor at the Paris Faculty of Law, joined his colleagues in commenting on the Council of State's "Bordeaux gas" decision. Like many of them, he was in favor of the decision and believed that the court had reached a legal and fair solution. However, because he is the last proponent of the theory distinguishing between acts of authority and acts of management, his argument differs from that of his colleagues.
Participation of jurists in the propaganda effort
Ferdinand Larnaude, La Science française : Les sciences juridiques et politiques, Paris : Librairie Larousse, 1915.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.Digitalized document available here.
In view of the Universal Exhibition, professors were charged with writing notices on the various aspects of French science. Ferdinand Larnaude, dean of the Paris Faculty of Law, was responsible for the section on political and legal sciences. In this work of popularization, he paints a laudatory and propagandistic portrait of French doctrine in which he consciously omits to mention all the contributions of Germanic thought.
« La Science française. Tome II », Le Temps, n° 19797, 19 September 1915.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France./br>
Announcement of the publication of the second book of La Science francaise, which includes Larnaude's essay on legal science.
« La France et les sciences juridiques », Journal des débats politiques et littéraires, n° 111, Thursday, 20 April 1916.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Welcoming Larnaude's text, this review praises the dean's contribution to the war on law. Following the author, it insists again on the decisive role of French jurists in the construction of legal theories.
« Visiteurs de demain », Le Temps, n° 20416, 30 May 1917.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
The question of reshaping international university relations became more pressing with the entry of the United States into the war. Accentuating the propaganda efforts, a book - Science and Learning in France - was published in English in praise of French universities and science in order to convince American students to come and study there. This review of the book is striking in that it in turn becomes a propaganda article.
Science and Learning in France, With a Survey of Opportunities for American Students in French Universities - An Appreciation by American Scholars, The Society for American Fellowships in French Universities, 1917.
Source: Biodiversity Heritage Library.Digitalized document available here.
A French-American committee led by James Hazen Hyde is responsible for the book, whose various parts are written by American professors.
« Une interview d’Emile Vandervelde. La mission belge aux États-Unis a reçu un accueil chaleureux », dans L’Humanité, Paris, 11e année, n°3838, 20 October 1914, p.1.
Source: retronews.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France
From the first months of the war, Belgian teachers in exile fully assumed a propaganda role to defend the cause of their invaded country. These actions are sometimes part of official diplomatic missions, such as Emile Vandervelde's trip to the United States.
Paris. Trocadéro. Manifestation organisée par la Ligue des droits de l'Homme contre les déportations de Belges en Allemagne. Discours de monsieur Emile Vandervelde, ministre d'Etat belge, 7 janvier 1917.
Source: Valois album fund, class. no VAL 346/017, La contemporaine collection
The deportation of Belgians to Germany by the occupying authorities is one of the issues on which Belgian jurists mobilize to try to influence opinion, and thus policy. This document and the following one show two means of action used to this end. Here, it is an intervention of Vandervelde on the occasion of a meeting organized by the Ligue des Droits de l'Homme.
Van Den Heuvel, Jules, « De la déportation des belges en Allemagne », Revue générale de droit international public : droit des gens, histoire diplomatique, droit pénal, droit fiscal, droit administratif, Paris, Pédone, 24e année, n° 3-4, May-August 1917, p. 261-300.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.Digitalized document available here.
Another mode of action, here a publication in a leading legal journal, by Van den Heuvel.
Agence Rol, [Picture of] Van Den Heuvel, de l’université de Louvain, November 1924.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Minister of Justice and professor of public law at the University of Leuven before the war, Jules Van Den Heuvel followed the Belgian government in exile and then became Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary on a special mission to Pope Benedict XV. After the war he was among the Belgian representatives at the Peace Conferences.
Charles Gide, La politique commerciale après la guerre, Paris : Ligue des droits de l’homme et du citoyen, 1917.
Source: Cujas library, class. no 58.505-3.Digitalized document available here.
This document and the following two finally show that not only did not all professors participate in the propaganda efforts, but some even tried to go against a certain war of law.While the war was not yet over, Charles Gide, professor of political economy at the Paris Law School, gave his analysis of the different commercial solutions available to France for its future relations with enemy countries, allies and neutrals. While the anti-German logic pushes many to want to set up a boycott of their products, prohibitive duties or to get bogged down in a defensive economic war, Gide is against all of these proposals.
« Nationalisme économique et idéalisme révolutionnaire », L'Action française, n° 269, Wednesday, 26 September 1917.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Herriot responded to Gide's brochure with an article in the journal L'Action Française. He sees in Gide a "kind of capitulation". In favor of economic nationalism, this answer is very severe towards the position supported by the Parisian professor.
« Nationalisme économique et idéalisme révolutionnaire », L'Action française, n° 269, Wednesday, 26 September 1917 (end).
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
« Une courageuse brochure de Charles Gide. Absurdité du boycottage des produits allemands », L'Humanité, n° 4711, Sunday, 11 March 1917.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
On the other hand, the newspaper L'Humanité is favorable to Gide's ideas and reproduces part of them in this article.
« Une courageuse brochure de Charles Gide. Absurdité du boycottage des produits allemands », L'Humanité, n° 4711, Sunday, 11 March 1917 (end).
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
The question of war damage
The question of compensation for war damage arose in the various nations affected by the conflict. In France, on December 22nd 1914, the government, led by Viviani, made a commitment before the Assemblée Nationale [French House of Representatives] to compensate for damage to property caused by the war. Law professors became involved in the debate and the development of this field of law.
« [Decree of February 4, 1915 on the right to compensation for material damage resulting from acts of war] », Journal Officiel de la République française, 5 February 1915.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Following the government's commitment, France issued a first decree in February 1915. This decree aimed to compensate people who had suffered material damage as a result of the war. It provides for the procedure of implementation of this compensation, the competent authorities, the commissions, the dispute procedures...
« [Decree of February 4, 1915 on the right to compensation for material damage resulting from acts of war] », Journal Officiel de la République française, 5 February 1915 (continued).
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
« [Decree of February 4, 1915 on the right to compensation for material damage resulting from acts of war] », Journal Officiel de la République française, 5 February 1915 (end).
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Comité national d'action pour la réparation intégrale des dommages causés par la guerre, Assemblée générale du 17 février 1915 : compte-rendu sténographique, Paris : Publications du Comité national d'action pour la réparation intégrale des dommages causés par la guerre, April 1915.
Source: Cujas library, class. no 14.097-2.
The professors of the French law faculties participated in the conception of new legal mechanisms adapted to wartime. To this end, the National Action Committee for Full Reparation of War Damages was created.
Ferdinand Larnaude, « La réparation des dommages causés par la guerre : principes et applications », Revue politique et parlementaire, tome 83, n° 247, 10 June 1915.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.Digitalized document available here.
Ferdinand Larnaude, dean of the Paris Faculty of Law, was also the president of the National Action Committee for the Full Reparation of War Damages. In this text, he questions the nature of this right to compensation, which must be reconciled with the interests of the State, the determination of its amount and the methods of payment.
« Pour aider à la réparation des dommages causés par la guerre », Le Petit Journal, n° 19336, Sunday, 5 December 1915.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
To assist the victims in their process, Le petit Journal announced that it would make available to them the annexed statements set up by the National Committee and which should allow the victims to limit administrative errors.
[Poster on Paris walls], Dommages matériels résultant de faits de guerre. Avis au public., Agence Rol, 1916_détail.
Source gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
As a result of the government's decrees, this poster invites Parisians to consult the damage assessment that has been carried out on their possessions in the city.
Paul Fauchille, « La réparation des dommages industriels causés par les Allemands dans le Nord de la France », Revue générale de droit international public, 1916.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.Digitalized document available here.
Paul Fauchille, lawyer, member of the Institute of International Law and director of the Revue générale de droit international public, presents here his analysis of the illegal requisitions of raw materials and industrial equipment carried out by the Germans in 1914, as well as the means of compensating the victims. While according to his analysis of international law and the Hague conventions, this debt rests with Germany, he comes back to the bill that would make the French State responsible for repairing these industrial and commercial damages.
« Loi sur la réparation des dommages causés par les faits de la guerre, [April 17, 1919] », Journal Officiel de la République française, 18 April 1919.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.Digitalized document available here.
Although the bill had been under discussion since 1915, the law was not adopted until 1919. It established the principle that all damage caused in France and in Algeria to real or personal property by the events of the war gave rise to the right to full compensation, provided that this damage was certain, material and direct. It establishes the framework and procedure to be followed, the methods of calculating and using the compensation as well as the conditions of payment.
« Le Comité d'action pour la réparation des dommages de guerre demande des avances pour les sinistrés », Le Petit Journal, n° 20857, Monday, 23 February 1920.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Even after the law was passed in April 1919, the victims struggled to obtain the compensation they were owed, and the committee chaired by Larnaude intervened again to demand that measures be taken.
Gervais, J., « Arrêté de loi relatif à la constatation et à l’évaluation des dommages résultants des faits de la guerre (Monit. Des 24-26 octobre 1918) », dans Pasinomie. Collection complète des lois, arrêtés et règlements généraux qui peuvent être invoqués en Belgique, Cinquième série, T.IX, Bruxelles, Etablissements Emile Bruylant, Year 1918, n°109, 23 October 1918, pp. 53-61.
Source : Bibliothèque Cujas, cote 45.136
Document numérisé consultable ici. In Belgium, too, the question of compensation for war damages was raised and became the subject of a law at the end of 1918.