sufficed for the government of occupation to publish an order concerning any offences, jurisdiction on which it wished to keep in its own hands, and obviously by that act Belgian justice was deprived of its rights, to the profit of German justice. The creation of these tribunals occasioned public protests from the bar of Brussels, as a result of which its president, the Batonnier Theodor, was deported to Germany. Even certain offences against common laws were selected by the German administra- tion to be dealt with by itself instead of by the judicial system of the country; a police, des moeurs (police of public morals) formed in all the large towns being given powers which Belgian law assigned to the public prosecutors and the Belgian courts alone.
But soon the administration of justice was completely taken over by the invaders. On April 7 1918 a permanent German judicial system was established by order in Flanders and Wal- lonia, their administrative separation having just been effected by von Bissing. The Belgian courts were replaced by German tribunals Kaiserliche Bezirksgerichte established in the differ- ent arrondissemenls. The judges, the public prosecutors and their staff, the recorders and clerks, all were exclusively German, appointed by the governor-general in accordance with the usages of German law. The language of these courts was German, their procedure was that of the German code. Usually one judge presided, but in cases where the authorized penalty exceeded five years' imprisonment sentence was pronounced by three judges. Procedure was rapid. The public prosecutor made all inquiries and perquisitions, and warrants of arrest were issued without preliminary judicial inquiry. The court dealt summarily with all affairs in which the authorized penalty did not exceed one year's imprisonment; in other cases procedure was by judgment. The court decided whether or not the accused should have the right of being defended, defence not being officially authorized save in cases tried by three judges. There was no appeal; and in all cases, immediately the sentence had been pronounced, the judge called upon the military authorities to put it into execution. In the case of a death-sentence the governor-general had the right of pardon. Judges were removable.
This edict, therefore, replaced Belgian judges by German judges, who, being removable, could not afford security. It abolished the right of appeal, and replaced Belgian procedure by German procedure. The accused found himself being tried in a foreign language, without the right of employing defence, or even of defending himself, the courts having power to set aside any evidence they chose to disregard. The Assize Court was sup- pressed; the jury, that indispensable safeguard of personal liberty, no longer existed. Thenceforward, the same tribunals dealt with misdemeanours and with crimes, inflicting all pen- alties, including that of death.
In issuing an order of such scope, the governor-general was acting as a legislator. The Belgian constitution, the judicial organization of the country, were abolished and replaced by German laws and judges. Belgium was being treated not as occupied territory, but as a conquered country.
Before describing the transformation of civil justice it will be well to glance at the principles which these German tribunals were established to apply. On Sept. 2 1914 Marshal von der Goltz enunciated in his proclamation the principle underlying the repressive system of an occupant power: " It is a harsh necessity of war that the punishment of hostile acts falls on the innocent as well as on the guilty." The same principle is found again in the edict of Feb. 5 1915, authorizing the governors to decide that penalties decreed by the German courts of justice should in certain cases be transferred to other persons in de- fault of the culprits themselves. The same principle was applied by a series of edicts empowering the German authorities to take hostages who should pay with their lives for damage done to railway tracks, to inflict heavy fines on communes, to deport the entire population of villages in whose area railway lines had been damaged, to punish whole families for faults committed by single members of them, to treat as guilty all persons found in company with anyone committing an offence. Again, the
Belgian was penalized for "not having done" or for " having had the intention to do." Counting on having its task facilitated by the citizens informing against one another, German justice proclaimed that not to give information constituted a misde- meanour, if not even a crime. That a person had " probably been cognizant of an infraction " sufficed to place him in the same position as the culprit, liable to the same penalty. Not only all who should aid, lodge, or feed the subjects of states at war with Germany, but even those who should not give information of their presence, were punishable by imprisonment or penal servitude. One sole mitigation is found: a wife who does not denounce her husband wanted by the German authorities may plead extenuating circumstances and is only liable to from 3 months' to 2 years' imprisonment or penal servitude. Again, every citizen was obliged, under pain of 3 to 15 years' penal servitude, to give information of the arrival in the country of any person belonging to one of the Entente nations, to denounce anyone making or storing munitions, to furnish all information in his power concerning British establishments in Belgium, to denounce anyone refusing to work for Germany.
Yet another new offence was that of being absent from Belgium and not having returned there within a period of two months. This offence was punishable by a fine fixed at ten times the amount of the taxes for which the absentee was liable. And besides new offences, new penalties were also introduced into Belgium by this German legislation. General confiscation of entire property, definitely forbidden by the Belgian constitution and by Article 46 of the Hague Convention, was decreed for infliction upon anyone not immediately denouncing to the Ger- man authorities persons placed under special surveillance; and upon persons under German police supervision who, being sen- tenced, could not be found and arrested. This penalty might be inflicted by the mere order of a governor. It may be added that this attempt on the part of the government of occupation to force the inhabitants of the country to denounce the activities against Germany of persons attached to the Allied armies contra- vened Articles 52 and 44 of the Hague Convention.
Deportation was introduced as a penalty in 1915 and was inflicted upon those who refused to work for the German author- ities, also upon those who did not comply precisely with their obligations towards the police control. It is a fact that deporta- tion was inflicted, even without trial, on persons who for any reason appeared undesirable to the civil or military authorities.
Civil Law. Belgian civil law was also profoundly modified. On Feb. 3 1915 the Government of occupation abolished the decree of 10 Vendemiaire au IV, concerning the responsibility of communes in the case of pillage committed openly by force and accompanied by violence. At the moment of Germany's declaration of war against Belgium certain German establish- ments in the large Belgian towns had been sacked by the mob. The government of occupation deprived the Belgian courts of their competence to try these cases, establishing instead for the purpose a special arbitration court composed of three members the president, appointed by the German governor-general, one member appointed by the president of the German civil administration of the province, one member appointed by the deputation pcrmanenle of the province (Belgian administration). The presence of this single Belgian adjudicator afforded no security, the president being empowered to replace him by the president of the German civil administration.
Exceptional tribunals were also set up, supplanting the regular Belgian courts, to try cases of dispute concerning house rents. Belgian refugees abroad found themselves unable to enforce their rights in these new courts, the bar always a special object of German hostility not having access to them.
A general transformation of the judicial system was begun on April 7 1918. A complete system of German courts was estab- lished, comprising courts of first instance (Bezirksgerichte), and two courts of appeal (Obergerichte), that for Flanders sitting at Brussels, that for Wallonia at Namur. These " imperial tribunals " administered justice in the name of the German Emperor; their personnel was German, appointed by the governor-general;
