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A new Definition of the “Levée en Masse”?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 May 2009

W.G. Rabus
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Extract

“The inhabitants of a territory not under occupation who on the approach of the enemy spontaneously take up arms to resist the invading troops without having had the time to organize themselves into regular armed units are entitled to be regarded as belligerents provided they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war.”

This definition of the levée en masse as “the spontaneous springing to arms of the population in defense of the country”, still valid today, is based on the idea of the French Revolution, embodied in the Proclamation of the National Convention of 16 August 1793 which, as regards the enfranchised citizen, laid down inter alia “tout citoyen est soldat quand il s'agit de combattre la tyrannie”; a concept that stood in contradiction to the then current calculable “cabinet wars” conducted by the State, in which to the recruited subject used by the army, itself a tool of the State, was allocated only the role of a passive object, the remainder of the population being considered, in Ford's term, as “quantité négligable”.

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Articles
Information
Netherlands International Law Review , Volume 24 , Issue 1-2 , May 1977 , pp. 232 - 241
Copyright
Copyright © T.M.C. Asser Press 1977

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References

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76. Das Gesetz über die Volksverteidigung, Art. 84.

77. That is to say the application of these provisions without the requirement of the carrying of weapons openly and the presence of visible identification, Art. 4 A 2 IIIrd Convention 1949, or of the requirement of Art. 42(lb) Draft Add.-Protoc, 1973 “that they distinguish themselves from the civilian population in military operation”; see footnote 68.

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