Prohibited means and manners of conducting armed conflicts

The goal of this diploma thesis is to present an overview of the most used chemical and biological weapons, as well as to explain their development, the links between them and their existence through the viewpoint of then contemporary sources, written or otherwise, as well as the current state of law in term of its effectivity and actual practice. The primary focus of this thesis is international law. National law is touched upon only sporadically. The first section of the thesis deals with the definition of used nomenclature, specifically the terms weapons of mass destruction, chemical and biological weapons, international law, law of armed conflicts, customary law, international treaties, forbidden means and methods of warfare. A look at the earliest history of chemical and biological weapons follows, including a brief assessment of the lack of legal regulation. The purpose of this chapter is to outline the very beginnings of this subject matter and to serve as a basis for the following chapters. The diploma thesis continues with a treatise on the birth of modern chemical and biological weapons, caused primarily by the chemo-biological revolution of the late 19th , early 20th century, while also listing the most important attempts to codify this area (e.g. the Lieber code, the Brussels Declaration, the..