TRUCE.. An agreement between belliger ent parties by which they mutually engage to forbear all acts of hostility against each other for some time, the war still continuing. At the present day there is no practical dis tinction between truces and armistices (q. v.).
Arts. 36-41 of the Convention Concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land lay down the following rules: "An armistice suspends military operations by mutual agreement between the belligerent parties. If its duration is not defined, the belligerent parties may resume operations at any time, provided always that the enemy is warned within the time agreed upon, in ac cordance with the terms of the armistice.
"An armistice may be general or local. The first suspends the military operations of the belligerent States everywhere; the sec ond only between certain fractions of the bel ligerent armies and within a fixed radius.
"An armistice must be notified officially and In good time to the competent authori ties and to the troops. Hostilities are sus pended immediately after the notification, or on the date fixed.
"It rests with the contracting parties to settle, in the terms of the armistice, what communications may be held in the theatre of war with and between the populations.
"Any serious violation of the armistice by one of the parties gives the other party the right of denouncing it, and even, in cases of urgency, of recommencing hostilities imme diately.
"A violation of the terms of the armistice by individuals acting on their own initiative only entitles the injured party to demand the punishment of the offenders, or, if necessary, compensation for the losses sustained." During the continuance of a truce, either party may do within his own territory or the limits prescribed by the armistice, whatever he could do in time of peace, e. g. levy and march troops, collect provisions, receive re inforcements from his allies, or repair the fortifications of a place not actually besieg ed ; but neither party can do what the con tinuance of hostilities would have prevented him from doing, e. g. repair fortifications of a besieged place; and all things, the posses sion of which was especially contested when the truce was made, must remain in their an tecedent places; Hall, Int. Law 500 ; 2 Opp. §§ 231-240.