CO129-594-7 Proposed legislation to regularise registration of births- marriages and deaths in Stanley internment camp during... 16-10-1945 - 19-12-1946 — Page 27

think, now generally acknowledged, is that a military

occupation, however long it may last, does not ipso

facto transfer sovereignty over the territory

occupied to the invader, see Oppenheim Vol. 2, 6th

edition, 1944. pp. 338 and 482, and although I have

not the document by me at the moment, I recall that

in the declaration of the four Allied Powers setting

up a military government in Germany, those powers

expressly repudiated any intention of annexing German

territory so that, theoretically, the sovereignty of

the German State still continues, notwithstanding the

occupation. Nevertheless, the occupying power actually

exercises authority, and as the lawful sovereign is

not in a position to provide an administration or to

maintain order in the occupied area, these functions

must be assumed by the occupying power. Certain

principles are laid down by customary international

law and by the Hague Regulations regarding the

limitations on the exercise of authority by the

occupying power. He has, for example, the duty of

administering the country according to the existing

laws and existing rules of administration.

respect family honour rights, private property, etc.

On the other hand, the inhabitants are under the

martial law of the occupying power and that power has

the right to inflict punishment for breaches of proper

rules laid down by him through martial law.

43 of the Hague Regulations provides

-

He must

Article

"The authority of the legitimate power having

actually passed into the hands of the occupant,

the latter shall take all steps in his power to

re-establish and ensure as far as possible public

order and safety, while respecting, unless

absolutely prevented, the laws in force in the

Country".

Westlake Part 2 (War), writing in 1907, commented on

this/