The law of nations is somewhat more complex than previous discussants have indicated.
If someone commits a warlike act across an international border, by the standards of the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia, the nation from whose territory the offense was committed has the duty to either punish the offender, or arrest him and turn him over to the offended nation for prosecution. By default, the offending nation has jurisdiction. For the offended nation, the offender is a pirate, even if the act was not committed on the sea. If the offending nation fails to take action against the individual offender, the nation as a whole is liable to reprisal, which could be done using letters of marque and reprisal, although signatories to the 1856 Declaration of Paris banned the practice of using privateers. (The U.S. signed it years later, and would have to rescind its signature before reviving the practice of using privateers.) Such letters can be issued to officials, however. The offended nation can also declare war on the offending nation, and continue it until the offending nation surrenders unconditionally. On the personal level of confrontation with a criminal, if an assailant fires at you from behind a hostage he is using as a shield, your rights and duties can be complicated by the risks involved, to you, to the hostage, to bystanders, and to the attacker. While one has a right to kill the attacker, one also has a duty to try to avoid injuring the hostage, if possible. It may not be possible. Sometimes there are no good alternatives, and one just has to make the best decision one can under the circumstances. That is why people should get good with a gun, or get nonlethal weapons, so they will have more options. -- Jon ---------------------------------------------------------------- Constitution Society 7793 Burnet Road #37, Austin, TX 78757 512/374-9585 www.constitution.org [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------------------------------------- ForumWebSiteAt http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
