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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 January 2011
Hague Regulation 43
Hague Regulation 43, in its common non-binding English translation (1907 version), reads:
The authority of the legitimate power having in fact passed into the hands of the occupant, the latter shall take all the measures in his power to restore, and ensure, as far as possible, public order and safety, while respecting, unless absolutely prevented, the laws in force in the country.
The authentic (and binding) French text of Regulation 43 is:
L'autorité du pouvoir légal ayant passé de fait entre les mains de l'occupant, celui-ci prendra toutes les mesures qui dépendent de lui en vue de rétablir et d'assurer, autant qu'il est possible, l'ordre et la vie publics en respectant, sauf empêchemant absolu, les lois en vigueur dans le pays.
203. The juxtaposition of the two versions of Regulation 43 reveals remarkable discrepancies between them. The most blatant mistranslation relates to the first part of the provision where the phrase ‘l'ordre et la vie publics’ (i.e., public order and life) is rendered in English as ‘public order and safety’. Safety, which is not even mentioned in French, thus becomes the focal point in English. This peculiar slip in the translation – left uncorrected for a century – cannot be easily explained, considering that only the French text is authentic. There is no doubt that ‘[t]he word “safety” does not precisely express the significance of the original words quoted above, which imply also the entire social and commercial life of the community’.
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