(14) Unjustified destruction of enemy prizes.[481]
(15) Use of enemy uniforms and the like during battle, use of the enemy flag during attack by a belligerent vessel.
(16) Violation of enemy individuals furnished with passports or safe-conducts, violation of safeguards.
(17) Violation of bearers of flags of truce.
(18) Abuse of the protection granted to flags of truce.
(19) Violation of cartels, capitulations, and armistices.
(20) Breach of parole.
[481] Unjustified destruction of neutral prizes—see below, § [431]—is not a war crime, but is nevertheless an international delinquency, if ordered by the belligerent government.
Hostilities in Arms by Private Individuals.
§ 254. Since International Law is a law between States only and exclusively, no rules of International Law can exist which prohibit private individuals from taking up arms and committing hostilities against the enemy. But private individuals committing such acts do not enjoy the privileges of members of armed forces, and the enemy has according to a customary rule of International Law the right to consider and punish such individuals as war criminals. Hostilities in arms committed by private individuals are not war crimes because they really are violations of recognised rules regarding warfare, but because the enemy has the right to consider and punish them as acts of illegitimate warfare. The conflict between praiseworthy patriotism on the part of such individuals and the safety of the enemy troops does not allow of any solution. It would be unreasonable for International Law to impose upon belligerents the duty to forbid the taking up of arms by their private subjects, because such action may occasionally be of the greatest value to a belligerent, especially for the purpose of freeing a country from the enemy who has militarily occupied it. Nevertheless the safety of his troops compels the enemy to consider and punish such hostilities as acts of illegitimate warfare, and International Law gives him a right to do so.