Military Justice in the Modern Era, c1850 – 1945
Hybrid Conference
(28 – 30 July 2022)
In conflicts throughout the world, military justice fulfils two vital functions. First and foremost, it acts as one of the principal mechanisms to maintain discipline within the armed forces by harshly punishing soldierly misconduct. Secondly, it serves as an instrument of military power in occupied territories by adjudicating the crimes of enemy belligerents and local inhabitants. In the former role, agents of the courts martial system can significantly impact the incidence, routinisation and escalation of violence by soldiers in wartime situations. In the latter, the imposition of martial law and the punishment of occupied peoples and enemy nationals by military courts can constitute a form of violence in itself. Accordingly, an historical examination of the principles, structure and application of military justice can offer important insights into war crimes and atrocities that are still valid in the conflict zones of our world today.
This conference brings together scholars specialising in military justice from a wide range of historical and geographical contexts to discuss conceptual, legal, institutional and practical aspects of the exercise of legal and judicial authority by armed forces. While the primary aim is to deepen our knowledge of the agents, institutions and practices involved in dispensing military justice in the modern era (i.e. mid-nineteenth century through 1945), a secondary objective will be to consider the role of military justice as a driver of violence.
This is a hybrid event.
To attend in person (spaces limited), please register via the following link: https://forms.gle/oVqUtyV24wXaCHCP7
To attend via Cisco Webex, please register via the following link: https://forms.gle/aPENTR9tg9Umi2eD8
Access details will be provided upon registration.
Registration for this event will close on 21 July 2022.
This conference is part of a project that has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant agreement No. 819892). It is hosted by the Institute for Japanese Studies, Freie Universität Berlin as part of the ERC project 'Law without Mercy: Japanese Courts-Martial and Military Courts during the Asia-Pacific War, 1937-1945'.
Conference Schedule
Day 1 – 28 July 2022
09:00 - 09:15 Welcome
09:15 - 10:45 Panel 1 – Agents of the Judiciary
Fascist Justice: Italian Military Magistrates in the Colonies and Occupied Territories (1922-1945)
Giovanni Focardi, University of Padua
A Judge Advocate’s Progress: Ogawa Sekijirō’s Diary and the Standardisation of Permissible Violence on the Way to Nanjing, 1937
Urs Matthias Zachmann, Freie Universität Berlin
10:45 - 11:15 Break
11:15 - 12:45 Panel 2 - Disciplinary Justice
Crime and Punishment? The Functioning of the Imperial Japanese Army's Justice System, 1931-1945
Tino Schölz, Freie Universität Berlin
Arbitrary Justice: Military Tribunals in Bolivia, 1905-1945
Liz Shesko, Oakland University
12:45 - 13:45 Lunch
13:45 - 15:15 Panel 3 - Developments in International and Military Justice Systems
“How to…!”: Legal Debates on the Punishment of Violations of the Laws of War, War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity in the period between the Franco-Prussian War and the beginning of the Cold War (1869–1949) [ONLINE]
Daniel Marc Segesser, University of Bern
Captivity and Military Law in Eurasia: The Ottoman and Russian Wars of the 17th and 19th Centuries [ONLINE]
Will Smiley, University of New Hampshire
15:15 - 15:45 Break
15:45 - 17:15 Panel 4 - The Politics of Military Justice
"Reports without Basis in Facts:" The Politics of Justice in the Argentine Navy during the 1920s and 1930s [ONLINE]
Jonathan Ablard, Ithaca College
Pain, Pride and Professionalization - The Transformation of Military Justice in Early Twentieth Century China
Nicolas Schillinger, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
Day 2– 29 July 2022
09:00 – 10:30 Panel 5 - Military Justice in Practice
Soviet Military Law in Practice: The Prosecution and Punishment of Red Army Soldiers and Soviet Civilians During and in the Immediate Aftermath of the Second World War
Franziska Exeler, Freie Universität Berlin / University of Cambridge
The Long Arm of Military Justice in the Wehrmacht – The Arrest and Resettlement of Families of Deserters Sentenced by a Wehrmacht Military Court
Nina Janz / Sarah Maya Vercruysse, University of Luxembourg
10:30 – 11:00 Break
11:00 – 12:30 Panel 6 - Justice and the Enemy
Justice behind the Lines: Prisoners of War, Military Justice, and Reprisals in the First World War
Brian Feltman, Georgia Southern University
Tried by the Enemy: The Court-Martial of Lieutenant James Bottomley Bradley by the Japanese Military in 1944
Nicolas Stassar, Freie Universität Berlin
12:30 – 13:30 Lunch
13:30 – 15:00 Panel 7 - An Instrument of Military Power in Occupied Territories
Military Courts as an Instrument of Occupation: Wehrmacht Justice in Occupied Norway
Maria Fritsche, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
Military Justice in the Belgian Occupied Zone of the Rhineland
Anne Godfroid, WHI-MRA, Brussels
15:00 - 15:30 Break
15:30 - 17:00 Panel 8 - Challenges to Military Law
Military, Law, or Military Law? The Dilemma of Militarized Justice in Modern China [ONLINE]
Weiting Guo, Aix-Marseille Université
Enforcing Military Law: British Courts Martial during the Period of World War One
Gerard Oram, Swansea University [ONLINE]
17:00 - 17:30 Break
17:30 - 19:00 Panel 9 - Victims of Military Justice?
Death or Deliverance: Canadian Courts Martial and Executions in the Great War [ONLINE]
Teresa Iacobelli, Canadian War Museum
Worthy of Freedom: Black Jurisprudence and Resisting Disciplinary Violence in the Courts-Martial during the US Civil War [ONLINE]
Jonathan Lande, Purdue University
Day 3 – 30 July 2022
09:00 – 10:30 Panel 10 - Law, War and Violence
"The Final Arbiter of the Question": General Orders 100, Filipino Guides, and Military Justice in the Philippine-American War
Justin Jackson, Bard College at Simon's Rock
Law, Justice and Violence towards Civilians in Territories Occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army, 1894-1941
Kelly Maddox, Freie Universität Berlin
10:30 – 11:00 Break
11:00 – 12:30 Panel 11 - Approaches to Military Justice Archives
"Brutal by Temperament and Taste": Using Military Justice to explore Violence between Soldiers in France's "African Army", 1914-1918 [ONLINE]
Claire Eldridge, University of Leeds
Colonial Violence, Subaltern Agency and Shared Archival Heritage: Towards a History of Military Courts and their Archives in the Belgian Congo
Amandine Lauro, FNRS/Université libre de Bruxelles
12:30 – 13:30 Lunch
13:30 – 15:00 Closing Discussion
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