24.04.1863|Legislation & Conventions|International Convention

The Lieber Code - Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field

The Code was commissioned by American President Lincoln and contains an extensive list of rules of conduct for the use of the soldiers of the North in the American Civil War. Many instructions of the Code have been incorporated into international humanitarian law. Article 16 stipulates that "Military necessity does not admit of cruelty, that is, the infliction of suffering for the sake of suffering or for revenge, nor of maiming or wounding except in fight, nor of torture to extort confessions [...]".