CONTRIBUTION ( La t. contributio, from contribucre, to contribute, from con-, together + (ribucre, to grant, from (rib us, tribe; probably connected with trabs, beam, Unib. trefu, Welsh tref, village, Goth. peer!), AS. porp, OHG. dorf, Ger. Dorf, village). In the law of war, a levy of money or supplies imposed by an invader upon the citizens of an enemy's territory entered. The term requisition is usually applied to a levy of supplies, which may consist of food, forage, clothing, or means of transport. Contributions are an outgrowth of the old conditions of pillage and devastation which formerly marked the course of an invader. Private property in land early became exempt from seizure owing to immovability; but personal property, being of a portable character, was appropriated so as to impair the enemy's strength. This custom reached its height during the seventeenth cen tury, when armies of adventurers swept over Europe, depending upon the country for sup port. Gradually, with the growth of more hu mane feelings and the more practical reason of increased efficiency and discipline in armies, the custom hardened into the usage of permitting inhabitants of invaded territories to purchase immunity from plunder by payment of a money indemnity.
A contribution is of the nature of an extraor dinary tax (regular taxes being appropriated as public property by the enemy), and though it is levied primarily by the invader, it is ad ministered by local representative authorities, and its incidence is thus regulated. Modern
usage has approved the giving of receipts or `bons de requisition' for the sums or quantities taken, to guard against burdensome demands by later commanders; also to furnish a basis for recovery from the domestic government in the event of national division of the loss. Yet the State is not generally held liable for losses en tailed by contribution; but these losses are con sidered to have happened from superior force beyond the State's control, except when a cer tain territory has been given over to an enemy to protect the rest of the country. In that case justice demands a different rule. Effort has been made by international convention to modify the usage of exacting contribution, and modern war fare has relaxed its severities, though during the Franco-Prussian War it was rigorously enforced by Prussia. The Allies made no levies in the Crimea, nor did the United States in Mexico in 1847. The British also generally purchased supplies from the Boers. In each of these cases, however, this conduct appears to have heen dic tated by motives of momentary policy. Con tribution should be distinguished from tribute, which is usually a condition of peace exacted by treaty. Consult the authorities referred to Under WAR. See TAX; TRIBUTE; CONQUEST.