This was a code of laws relating to maritime warfare drafted on 26 February 1909 by the London Naval Conference. Conspicuous in the declaration were the issues of contraband and continuous voyage. The parties reached agreement on lists of contraband and on the classification of goods that could not be declared contraband. They restricted continuous voyage in application to contraband.
The declaration illustrates the strength and weakness of international legislation. Although the declaration was never ratified, the United States tried to make it an important instrument of policy. Secretary of State Robert Lansing secretly tried to persuade Britain to follow the declaration during World War I. Britain rejected the plan, and the United States fell back on the traditional principles of international law.
Bibliography
International Naval Conference. The Declaration of London, February 26, 1909: A Collection of Official Papers and Documents Relating to the International Naval Conference Held in London, December 1908–February 1909. New York: Oxford University Press, 1919.
Perkins, Bradford. The Great Rapprochement: England and the United States, 1895–1914. New York: Atheneum, 1968.
Pyke, Harold Reason. The Law of Contraband of War. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1915.
