BELLIGERENCY, the state of carrying on war in accord ance with the law of nations. Insurgents are not as such ex cluded from recognition as belligerents, and, even where not recognized as belligerents by the government against which they have rebelled, they may be so recognized by a neutral state, as in the case of the American Civil War, when the Southern states were recognized as belligerents by Great Britain, though regarded as rebels by the Northern states. The recognition of belligerency by a neutral state does not, however, imply recogni tion of independent political existence. The Hague Convention iv., 1907, deals with the qualifications of belligerents. To entitle troops to the special privileges attaching to belligerency, it is provided that all regular, militia or volunteer forces shall be commanded by persons responsible for the acts of their men, that all such shall carry distinctive emblems, recognizable at a distance, that arms shall be carried openly and operations con ducted in accordance with the laws and customs of war. In naval war, privateering having been finally abolished as among the parties to it by the Declaration of Paris, a privateer is not entitled, as between such parties, to the rights of belligerency. As between states, one of whom is not a party to the Declara tion, the right to grant letters of marque would remain intact for both parties, and the privateer, as between them, would be a belligerent ; as regards neutrals, the situation would be compli cated (see PRIVATEER).