Abstract

This chapter asks a similar set of questions regarding necessity and the duty to capture, that is, whether necessity requires an attacking force to attempt capture prior to initiating a lethal strike. There is no such duty codified in existing legal obligations, at least not where jus in bello is concerned. However, restrictions on the use of overwhelming force might be found in a reinvigorated jus ad bellum obligation on the part of attacking forces to cease an attack when the necessity giving rise to the armed conflict has evaporated because the enemy nation has been so decimated that they are incapable of constituting a national threat anymore. Finally, this chapter also asks whether it would be morally advisable to amend the codified rules of jus in bello to require non-lethal attacks in limited and carefully circumscribed contexts.