In 1918, Belgian magistrates working under German occupation during the First World War, were presented with the dilemma of the coexistence on their territory of both Belgian and German legislation. In regard to such situation, Articles 43 and 23(h) of the 18 October 1907 Hague Convention hold: while it is possible for the occupant to take measures considered necessary to achieve legitimate purposes – including the creation of their own courts – national law should nevertheless be maintained and respected. Belgian magistrates – and in particular Mr R. de Rickère, judge at the Tribunal de première instance in Brussels – gave those rules their own interpretation: their constitutional duty excluded any collaboration, or contribution, to the enforcement of the occupant's laws; any deviation, even under duress, would engage their personal responsibility. In other words, they would resist to the point of bringing justice to a halt. This is in fact what happened in February 1918 following the proclamation, by the German inspired ‘Conseil des Flandres’ of a new Flemish State, on 21 January 1918. On 7 February, in compliance with Brussels Courd'appel's injunction that all members of the self-defined ‘Conseil’ should be prosecuted for violation of the constitutional guarantee of the equality of all Belgians citizens, two Flemish activists were held: German authorities responded by arresting four magistrates. On 11 February, all magistrates ceased their activities and were joined on that same day by lawyers. The ‘grève des magistrals’, as it became known, was largely followed all over the country. Several among the strikers were deported. It ended on 25 November 1918.