Regulation-Tolerant Weapons, Regulation-Resistant Weapons and the Law of War

Abstract

The historical record of international weapons law reveals both regulation-tolerant weapons and regulation-resistant weapons, identifiable by a number of criteria including effectiveness, novelty, deployment, medical compatibility, disruptiveness and notoriety. This article identifies these criteria both to explain existing weapons law and to facilitate efforts to identify weapons that may prove susceptible to future law of war regulation. By charting the history, methodology, and trends of weapons law this article offers a starting point for identifying sound investments of the very precious legal, diplomatic, political and financial capital required to produce meaningful law of war developments.

Keywords: law of war, weapons, international humanitarian law, public international law, law of armed conflict, emerging technology