Generally it may be said that the doc trine of The Missouri is in conflict with the current of authority in England, it being usually held in that country that as to such stipulations in the bill of lading, the leo loci contractus prevails; 9 Q. B. D. 118 ; 10 id. 521, 540; 12 id. 596 ; 3 Moo. P. C. N. S. 272; and to the same effect and under precisely similar circumstances is a judgment of the court of cassation in France, imperfectly stated in a note to the case last cited and fully reported in 75 Journal du Palais (1864) 225, and see 1 Dalloz 449. This question, it may be remarked, is as yet scarcely to be considered as settled by any hard-and-fast rule of law, and the only certain guide, says Bowen, L. J. (12 Q. B. D. 589), "is to be found in applying sound ideas of business, convenience, and sense to the language of the contract itself with a view to discovering from it the true intention of the parties." Flag of Truce. A white flag displayed by one of two belligerent parties to notify the other party that communication and a cessa tion of hostilities are desired.
Although each party has the right to send such a flag, there is no obligation on the commander of the enemy's forces to receive it ; Snow, Int. L. 96 ; although it is usual to do so except in very exceptional cases; Davis, Int. L. 238; but if he receive the flag he may take all reasonable pre cautions to protect himself from any injury that may result from the presence of an enemy within his lines; he may detain the messenger at the outposts or may cause him to be blindfolded, but such messenger is entitled, if the bearer of a bona fide mes sage, to complete inviolability of person; but during an engagement, firing is not necessarily to cease on the appearance of a flag of truce, unless it be made clear that it is exhibited as a token of submission ; Snow, Int. L. 97. The rules of war justly
forbid the sending of flags of truce for the purpose of obtaining information either di rectly or indirectly, and a messenger for feits his inviolability of person and may be detained and subjected to punishment as a spy if he take advantage of his mission to abet an act of treachery. The more im portant of the foregoing rules have now been embodied in Articles 32, 33, 34 of the Con vention Concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land, adopted by The Hague Peace Conference in 1907, which were sub stantially a re-statement of the rules laid down in the Draft of an International Dec laration Concerning the Laws and Customs of War, signed by the delegates to the Brus sels Convention of 1874, but never ratified by their governments. II Opp. 278-282.
In naval operations the senior officer alone is authorized to dispatch or admit flags of truce. The firing of a gun from the senior officer's vessel is generally understood as a warning to approach no nearer. The flag of truce should be met at a suitable dis tance by a boat or vessel in charge of a com missioned officer having a white flag plainly displayed from the time of leaving until her return, and the same precautions must be ob served in dispatching such a flag ; Snow, Int. L. 97.