A TREATY IN RELATION TO THE USE OF SUBMARINES AND NOXIOUS GASES IN WARFARE

Washington, D.C., February 6, 1922

THE UNITED STATES of America, the British Empire, France, Italy and Japan, hereinafter referred to as the Signatory Powers, desiring to make more effective the rules adopted by civilized nations for the protection of the lives of neutrals and noncombatants at sea in time of war, and to prevent the use in war of noxious gases and chemicals, have determined to conclude a Treaty to this effect, and have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries:

The President of the United States of America; Charles Evans Hughes; Henry Cabot Lodge; Oscar W. Underwood; Elihu Root, citizens of the United States.

His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India; The Right Honourable Arthur James Balfour, O. M., M. P., Lord President of His Privy Council; The Right Honourable Baron Lee of Fareham, G. B. E., K. C. B., First Lord of His Admiralty; The Right Honourable Sir Auckland Campbell Geddes, K. C. B., His Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United States of America; -;
and for the Dominion of Canada The Right Honourable Sir Robert Laird Borden, G. C. M. G., K. C.; for the Commonwealth of Australia: Senator, the Right Honourable George Foster Pearce, Minister for Home and Territories; for the Dominion of New Zealand: The Honourable Sir John William Salmond, K. C., Judge of the Supreme Court of New Zealand; for the Union of South Africa: The Right Honourable Arthur James Balfour, O. M., M. P.; for India: The Right Honourable Valingman Sankaranarayana Srinivasa Sastri, Member of the Indian Council of State.

The President of the French Republic: Mr. Albert Sarraut, Deputy, Minister of the Colonies; Mr. Jules J. Jusserand, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United States of America, Grand Cross of the National Order of the Legion of Honour.

His Majesty the King of Italy; The Honourable Carlo Schanzer, Senator of the Kingdom; The Honourable Vittorio Rolandi Ricci, Senator of the Kingdom, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at Washington; The Honourable Luigi Albertini, Senator of the Kingdom.

His Majesty the Emperor of Japan: Baron Tomosaburo Kato, Minister for the Navy, Junii, a member of the First Class of the Imperial Order of the Grand Cordon of the Rising Sun with the Paulownia Flower; Baron Kijuro Shidehara, His Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at Washington, Joshii, a member of the First Class of the Imperial Order of the Rising Sun; Mr. Masanao Hanihara, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jushii, a member of the Second Class of the Imperial Order of the Rising Sun.

Who, having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found to be in good and due form, have agreed as follows:

ARTICLE I.

  The Signatory Powers declare that among the rules adopted by civilized nations for the protection of the lives of neutrals and noncombatants at sea in time of war, the following are to be deemed an established part of international law;

(1) A merchant vessel must be ordered to submit to visit and search to determine its character before it can be seized.
  A merchant vessel must not be attacked unless it refuse to submit to visit and search after warning, or to proceed as directed after seizure.
  A merchant vessel must not be destroyed unless the crew and passengers have been first placed in safety.

(2) Belligerent submarines are not under any circumstances exempt from universal rules above stated; and if a submarine can not capture a merchant vessel in conformity with these rules the existing law of nations requires it to desist from attack and from seizure and to permit the merchant vessel to proceed unmolested.

ARTICLE II.

  The Signatory Powers invite other civilized Powers to express their assent to the foregoing statement of established law so that there may be a clear public understanding throughout the world of the standards of conduct by which the public opinion of the world is to pass judgment upon future belligerents.

ARTICLE III.

  The Signatory Powers, desiring to insure the enforcement of the humane rules of existing law declared by them with respect to attacks upon and the seizure and destruction of merchant ships, further declare that any person in the service of any Power who shall violate any of those rules, whether or not such person is under orders of a governmental superior, shall be deemed to have violated the laws of war and shall be liable to trial and punishment as if for an act of piracy and may be brought to trial before the civil or military authorities of any power within the jurisdiction of which he may be found.

ARTICLE IV.

  The Signatory Powers recognize the practical impossibility of using submarines as commerce destroyers without violating, as they were violated in the recent war of 1914-1918, the requirements universally accepted by civilized nations for the protection of the lives of neutrals and noncombatants, and to the end that the prohibition of the use of submarines as commerce destroyers shall be universally accepted as a part of the law of nations they now accept that prohibition as henceforth binding as between themselves and they invite all other nations to adhere thereto.

ARTICLE V.

  The use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and all analogous liquids, materials or devices, having been justly condemned by the general opinion of the civilized world and a prohibition of such use having been declared in treaties to which a majority of the civilized Powers are parties, The Signatory Powers, to the end that this prohibition shall be universally accepted as a part of international law binding alike the conscience and practice of nations, declare their assent to such prohibition, agree to be bound thereby as between themselves and invite all other civilized nations to adhere thereto.

ARTICLE VI.

  The present Treaty shall be ratified as soon as possible in accordance with the constitutional methods of the Signatory Powers and shall take effect on the deposit of all the ratifications, which shall take place at Washington.

  The Government of the United States will transmit to all the Signatory Powers a certified copy of the proces-verbal of the deposit of ratifications.

  The present Treaty, of which the French and English texts are both authentic, shall remain deposited in the Archives of the Government of the United States and duly certified copies thereof will be transmitted by that Government to each of the Signatory Powers.

ARTICLE VII.

  The Government of the United States will further transmit to each of the Non-Signatory Powers a duly certified copy of the present Treaty and invite its adherence thereto.

  Any Non-Signatory Power may adhere to the present Treaty by communicating an Instrument of Adherence to the Government of the United States, which will thereupon transmit to each of the Signatory and Adhering Powers a certified copy of each Instrument of Adherence.

In faith whereof, the above named Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Treaty.

Done at the City of Washington, the sixth day of February, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-two.

[For the United States of America: ] CHARLES EVANS HUGHES, HENRY CABOT LODGE, OSCAR W. UNDERWOOD
[For the United Kingdom: ] ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR LEE OF FAREHAM, A. C. GEDDES
[For the Dominion of Canada:] R. L. BORDEN
[For the Dominion of Australia: ] G. F. PEARCE
[For the Dominion of New Zealand:] JOHN W. SALMOND
[For the Dominion of South Africa: ] V. S. SRINIVASA SASTRI
[For France: ] A. SARRAUT, JUSSERAND
[For Italy: ] CARLO SCHANZER, V. ROLANDI RlCCI, LUIGI ALBERTINI
[F or Japan: ] T. KATO, K. SHIDEHARA, M. HANIHARA