ENEMY, one who is unfriendly or hostile to another; one who hates or dis likes; a hostile army or force; the great adversary of mankind, the devil.
According to ancient military usage, the utmost cruelty was lawful toward enemies. In modern times more humane principles prevail, and men recognize that, by taking up arms against one an other in public war, they do not cease on this account to be moral beings, and re sponsible to one another and to God. Warfare is now carried on subject to certain general rules, which are intended to abridge the calamities of war, and to protect the rights of individuals. An ad mirable summary of these rules may be found in the "Instructions for United States Armies," issued in 1863. In 1874 an International Conference, held in Brussels, devoted much time to the elab oration of rules for military warfare. The Institute of International Law, at its meeting at Oxford, in 1880, prepared and adopted a "Manual of the Laws of War on Land," in which minute rules for the conduct of hostilities are set forth.
Military necessity admits of all direct destruction of life or limb of armed ene mies, and of other persons where destruc tion is unavoidable; it allows of all de struction of property, and obstruction of the ways and channels of traffic, and of all withholding of sustenance or means of life from the enemy. Such military necessity does not, however, admit of cruelty, nor of maiming or wounding ex cept in fight, nor of the use of poison in any way, nor of the wanton devastation of a district. It admits of deception, but
disclaims all acts of perfidy. In the case of the occupation of a country by the en emy, the persons of the inhabitants, es pecially of women, are respected, and the maxims of religion and morality are ac knowledged. Private property, unless forfeited by crimes, can be seized only on the ground of military necessity; if the proprietor has not fled receipts are usu ally given, which enable the spoliated owner to obtain indemnity. Trade between the subjects of two hostile powers is abso lutely suspended during hostilities unless permitted by express sanction, and the importation of articles particularly use ful in war is contraband. All such mate rial, whether supplied by subjects of the enemy or of another state, is seized and confiscated. In the World War (1914 1918) the English courts held that an enemy alien residing in England could defend an action brought against him, but an interned enemy subject could not. The Germans allowed an enemy alien residing in the Empire access to the Ger man courts, but not those living in other countries. In France some of the lower courts allowed enemy aliens to take action and some did not. In April, 1916, the French Court of Appeal upheld this right. In the United States alien en emies had access to the courts as freely as citizens.