FLYING A FALSE FLAG.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 161, 14 December 1914, Page 6

FLYING A FALSE FLAG.

. In view of the reported use of false flags by German warships the following opinions from leading authorities on international law should prove interesting. L. Oppenheim, L.L.D., lecturer in international law at the London School of Economics and Public Science—University of London—says:—"Rumors are customarily allowed within the same limits in sea warfare as in land warfare, perfidy being excluded. As regards lis i use of a false flag, it is by most public- ] ists considered perfectly lawful for a man-of-war to use a neutral's or an enemy's flag (1) when chasing an enemy vessel, (2) when trying to escape, and (3) for the purpose of drawing an enemy into aaion. On the oihcr hand, ■t is universally agreed that immediately before an attack a vessel must fly her national flag." Professor Pitt t'obbett, late professor of law at Sydney University, in ; iis leading cases on international 'law, says:—"Tlie employment of ruses and other methods of deceiving the enemy is allowed to the same extent in sea .v.ivfa'V,. and Hibicct to similar limitations as in land warfare. This excludes all forms of treachery, n\\ false statements in matter* where the work dt u commander is invuled to !>-: acted upon without enquiry; and also the use of signs and emblems to which a particular meaning attaches for imv oi'.er purpose that for which they stand. 1 he use of a lalse flag is permisinble, although occasionally forbidden by municipal regulation; but in any case it is subject to tin condition tliat a vessel miLst show her true flag before proceeding to attack."