International Journal of Development in Social Sciences and Humanities

The law of neutrality states legal relationship between nations which are engaged in an armed conflict (belligerents) and nations which are not taking part in such hostilities (neutrals). The law of neutrality serves a localize war, to limit the impact of war on both land and sea, and even lessen the conduct of war on International level. Developed at a time when nations commonly issued declarations of the war before engaging in actual hostilities, the law of neutrality aim that the transition between the war and peace would be clear and unambiguous. With the onset of international efforts to abolish "war" coupled with the procreation of collective security preparations and the extension of the spectrum of warfare to involve dissent and counter surgeries armed conflicts between nations are now seldom followed by formal declarations of wars. Consequently it became very difficult to determine with complete precision the point in time when the hostilities have become a "war” and to distinguish between belligerent nations from neutrals. Notwithstanding the ambiguity, the law of neutrality continues to serve a vital role in containing the spread of the hostilities and in the regulation the conduct of belligerent nations with respect to nations which are not participating in the ongoing conflict, in regulating the conduct of the neutrals with respect to belligerents, and in reducing the harmful effects of such hostilities on the international commerce. A belligerent nation can be defined as a nation engaged in an international armed conflict, whether or not it is a formal declaration of war that has been issued. On the other hand, a neutral nation can be defined as a nation that has announced its neutrality or has otherwise assumed neutral status with respect to ongoing conflict between the nations.