Military Occupation and the Rule of Law. Occupation Government in the Rhineland, 1918-1923. Studies of the Institute of World Affairs.

Einband leicht berieben. Papierbedingt leicht gebr�t. - The rule of law is primarily a principle of constitutional government, intended to protect citizens from despotic measures of their own sovereign. But the question arises whether the basic ideas to which it gives expression are subject to national delimitation. The main concern of the present study is whether a principle that is applicable to national governments, exercising their powers by virtue of national laws, is not also applicable to the regimes of foreign governments that exercise their powers by virtue of international law. The book deals primarily with the armistice period of occupation after World War 1, and the first years of the peacetime regime. When the American troops left the Rhineland, and the French and Belgian armies marched into the Ruhr, early in 1923, the situation changed so basically that the occupation of Germany became a quite different chapter of history.The rule of law is primarily a principle of constitutional government, intended to protect citizens from despotic measures of their own sovereign. But the question arises whether the basic ideas to which it gives expression are subject to national delimitation. The main concern of the present study is whether a principle that is applicable to national governments, exercising their powers by virtue of national laws, is not also applicable to the regimes of foreign governments that exercise their powers by virtue of international law. The book deals primarily with the armistice period of occupation after World War 1, and the first years of the peacetime regime. When the American troops left the Rhineland, and the French and Belgian armies marched into the Ruhr, early in 1923, the situation changed so basically that the occupation of Germany became a quite different chapter of history.