Weapons and the Law of Armed Conflict

Bringing together the law of armed conflict governing the use of weapons into a single volume, the fully updated Second Edition of Weapons and the Law of Armed Conflict interprets these rules and discusses the factors influencing future developments in weapons law. After relating the historical evolution of weapons law, the book discusses the important customary principles that are the foundation of the subject, and provides a condensed account of the law that exists on the use of weapons. The treaties and customary rules applying to particular categories of weapon are thereafter listed and explained article by article and rule by rule in a series of chapters. Having stated the law as it is, the book then explores the way in which this dynamic field of international law develops in the light of various influences. The legal review of weapons is discussed, both from the perspective of how such reviews should be undertaken and how such a system should be established. Having stated the law as it is, the book then investigates the way in which this dynamic field of international law develops in the light of various influences. In the final chapter, the prospects for future rule change are considered.

This Second Edition includes a discussion of new treaty law on expanding bullets, the arms trade, and norms in relation to biological and chemical weapons. It also analyses the International Manuals on air and missile warfare law and on cyber warfare law, the challenges posed by 'lethal autonomous weapon systems', and developments in the field of information and telecommunications otherwise known as cyber activities.

William Boothby, Former Deputy Director of Legal Services, Royal Air Force

Dr Bill Boothby retired as Deputy Director of Legal Services (RAF) in 2011 having obtained his Doktor Iuris from the Europa Universitaet Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder) in Germany in 2009. He was a member of the Group of Experts that prepared the HPCR Manual on the Law of Air and Missile Warfare and was also a member of the Group of Experts, and of the Drafting Committee, of the Tallinn Manual. He teaches at Royal Holloway College, University of London, at the Australian National University, Canberra and at the University of Durham. He writes and presents regularly on a variety of international law issues.