Note 77 — Chapter XX · On the Public Faith, by which War is Concluded; Comprising Treaties of Peace, and the Nature of Arbitration, Surrender Hostages, Pledges.

"Some damages are done deliberately and by way of precaution, as when a field, a house, or a garden, belonging to a private person, is taken for the purpose of erecting on the spot a tower, rampart, or any other piece of fortification,—or when his standing corn, or his storehouses are destroyed, to prevent their being of use to the enemy. Such damages are to be made good to the individual, who should bear only his quota of the loss. But there are other damages, caused by inevitable necessity, as for instance, the destruction caused by the artillery in retaking a town from the enemy. These are merely accidents, they are misfortunes, which chance deals out to the proprietors on whom they happen to fall. The sovereign ought indeed to shew an equitable regard for the sufferers, if the situation of his affairs will admit of it: but no action lies against the state for misfortunes of this nature,—for losses, which she has occasioned, not wilfully, but through necessity and mere accident, in the exertion of her rights. The same may be said of damages caused by the enemy." Vat. b. iii. ch. xv. sect. 232.