Between the devil and the deep blue sea - University of Canterbury

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the inherent contradictions in the War Law be resolved, and that, above all, the respective
powers of military and civilian authority be clearly delineated and abuses avoided.
Throughout 1915 and 1916, the judiciary and government attempted to regulate
military jurisdiction to remove some of the excesses and return the administration of
municipalities to normal. High Command, in tum, hoped that the regulations would
decrease its papelwork and limit interference by its commanders in local matters, without
restricting their power of interference when and where that proved necessary. It was
especially concerned that the justification for the War Law, namely that in emergency
situations there should be no limits as to what could be done to safeguard the interests of
the nation, was not undermined. 72 Yet it also understood that in a period of protracted crisis,
where, in fact, emergencies were the nonn instead of the exception, it was entirely
unfeasible to replace regular administrative processes with new ad hoc military ones.
While the government had the option of entirely redesigning the War Law, or at
the very least of issuing instructions regarding how it should be interpreted, both courses of
action proved time-consuming. Both Bosboom and de Jonge, in their capacity as Minister
of War, tried to comprehensively revamp the legislation. In October 1915, Bosboom
appointed a commission of enquiry to this end, which received full co-operation from High
Command. 73 Its recommendations helped him make some practical changes to how the
anned forces exercised their "state of war" and "siege" authority and how they administered
the areas under their control. 74 The recommendations did not, however, elucidate the
relationship between the militaty and local government. De J onge tabled a law chatlge in
parliament in April 1918 taking these matters into account, but the elections a few months
later and the Armistice in November of that year, removed its urgency and the law change
was never implemented. In fact, in 1929, the revised Oorlogswet was removed permanently
from the parliamentary agenda without debate in either legislative house. 75
Because they did not have a set of clear instructions to follow, the relationship
between military and civic authorities in the "state of war" and "siege" tended to be fluid
72 Commander Fortified Position of Den Helder to Commander-in-Chief, 14 October and 10 December 1915, in
ARA, "Archieven van de Generale Star' entry no. 2.13.70, inventory no. 215; Eigeman, "De bevoegdheid van het
militair gezag" p. 89; Hasselton, "De wisseling van het opperbevel" p. 40.
73 For which see: ARA, "Archieven van de Generale Star' entry no. 2.13.70, inventory no. 215.
74 See: section "Causing Havoc in the Chain of Command", pp. 252 - 256 below.
75 Bosboom, In Moeilijke Omstandigheden p. 320.