Legal Advice, the Foreign Office, and Britain’s Neutrality Policy, 1870–1914

Abstract

As the predominant sea power in the nineteenth century, Britain shaped the understanding of neutrality at sea prior to 1914 like no other nation. This chapter examines how Britain formulated its neutrality policy in the aftermath of the American Civil War, and how this policy was implemented in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, the Sino-French War of 1884–1885, and the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. Each conflict posed new legal challenges. It focuses on how the British government received legal advice, and how the government administration of foreign affairs changed as a result of the growing importance of legal advice in international politics. While the Foreign Office was responsible for the implementation of the neutrality policy, this chapter highlights the importance of the Law Officers of the Crown who, as the principal legal advisers of the British government, shaped state practice and, more generally, the understanding of neutrality at sea.