§ 71. Prisoners of war may be released from captivity not only by
exchange, but, under certain circumstances, also by parole.
The term Parole designates, in military language, the pledge of
individual good faith and honor to do, or to omit doing, certain acts,
after he who gives his parole shall have been dismissed, wholly or
partially, from the power of the enemy.
The pledge of the parole is always an individual, but not a private act.
§ 72. The parole applies chiefly to prisoners of war, whom the captor
allows to return to their country, or to live in greater freedom within
the captor’s country or territory, on conditions implied by the parole.
§ 73. Release of prisoners of war by exchange, is the general rule;
release by parole is the exception.
§ 74. Breaking the parole not to fight again during the war or until
exchanged, is punished with death, when the person breaking the parole
is captured again.
Accurate lists, therefore, of the paroled persons, must be kept by the
belligerents.
§ 75. Commissioned officers only, are allowed to give their parole, and
they must do it with the permission of their superior, as long as a
superior in rank is within reach.
Paroling must always take place by the exchange of two written
documents, in which the name and rank of the paroled individual are
accurately and truthfully stated.
§ 76. No wholesale paroling, done by an officer for a number of
inferiors in rank, is permitted or valid.
No paroling on the battle-field; no paroling of entire portions of
troops after a battle; no dismissal of large numbers of prisoners with a
general declaration that they are paroled, is permitted, or of any
value.
Every officer who fails in this respect, is to be punished and
cashiered.
§ 77. In capitulations for the surrender of strong places or fortified
camps, the commanding officer, in cases of urgent necessity, may
stipulate that the troops under his command shall not fight again in the
war until exchanged; [but no more.]
§ 78. The usual pledge given in the parole is not to serve in the
existing war, or not to serve for a stated time, unless exchanged.
This pledge refers only to the active service in the field, against the
paroling belligerent or his allies actively engaged in the same war. It
does not refer to internal service, such as recruiting or drilling the
recruits, fortifying places not besieged, to quelling civil commotions,
to fighting against belligerents unconnected with the paroling
belligerents, or to civil or diplomatic service for which the paroled
officer may be employed.
§ 79. If the government does not approve of the parole, the paroled
officer must return into captivity, and should the enemy refuse to
receive him, he is free of his parole.
§ 80. A belligerent government may declare by a general order, whether
it will allow paroling, and on what conditions it will allow it. Such
order is communicated to the enemy.
§ 81. No prisoner of war can be forced by the hostile government to
parole himself, and no government is obliged to parole prisoners of war,
or to parole all captured officers, if it paroles any. As the pledging
of the parole is an individual act, so is paroling, on the other hand,
an act of choice on the part of the belligerent.
§ 82. Civil officers kept as prisoners of war, may be paroled; but no
citizens without office, no citizens in a merchant vessel stopped by a
privateer or man-of-war, can be paroled. Nor can inhabitants of places
or territories occupied by the enemy, be paroled by the latter. Their
government does not lose its claim for military service upon such
persons, should they give their parole, for it is of no value. If they
should be paroled, and, being captured at a later period as soldiers,
should not be treated by the captor as prisoners of war, such conduct of
the enemy would be ground for retaliation.