The Viner Codex

The Commonwealth arose from the ashes of a particularly savage Civil War, and much of its core principles of law – as outlined in the Agreement of the People – were derived by and from the first-hand experiences of the ordinary soldiers in that war. No surprise, then, that much of its philosophy and law on military matters reflects a ‘never again’ attitude to war.

The key principles can be summarised as follows:

• There is only one system of law – there can be no arbitrary distinctions such as between ‘laws of peace’ and ‘laws of war’
• The Biblical injunction ‘Thou shalt not kill’ shall apply to every context – including any context of conflict or war
• The Biblical injunctions to care for others and to minimise potential for harm others shall apply to every context – including any context of conflict or war

Some of the legal outcomes of those principles include:

• If there is no distinction between ‘laws of peace’ and ‘laws of war’, then killing anyone in a war is murder – a capital crime
• If there is no distinction between ‘laws of peace’ and ‘laws of war’, then any attack that causes injury to others is a criminal offence
• If there is no distinction between ‘laws of peace’ and ‘laws of war’, then preparing for offensive war is itself an offence – the crime of ‘conspiracy to breach the peace’

As a result, all military policy, military doctrine and military activity within the Commonwealth is focussed on defence, not offence.