Bringing together the law of armed conflict governing the use of weapons into a single volume, the fully updated Second Edition of Weapons and the Law of Armed Conflict interprets these rules and discusses the factors influencing future developments in weapons law. After relating the historical evolution of weapons law, the book discusses the important customary principles that are the foundation of the subject, and provides a condensed account of the lawthat exists on the use of weapons. The treaties and customary rules applying to particular categories of weapon are thereafter listed and explained article by article and rule by rule in a series of chapters. Having stated the law as it is, the book then explores the way in which this dynamic field ofinternational law develops in the light of various influences. The legal review of weapons is discussed, both from the perspective of how such reviews should be undertaken and how such a system should be established. Having stated the law as it is, the book then investigates the way in which this dynamic field of international law develops in the light of various influences. In the final chapter, the prospects for future rule change are considered.This Second Edition includes a discussion of new treaty law on expanding bullets, the arms trade, and norms in relation to biological and chemical weapons. It also analyses the International Manuals on air and missile warfare law and on cyber warfare law, the challenges posed by 'lethal autonomous weapon systems', and developments in the field of information and telecommunications otherwise known as cyber activities.

1 Introduction; 2 The Evolution of the Law of Weaponry; 3 Components of the International Law of Weaponry; 4 The Use of Weapons and the Law of Targeting; 5 Customary Principles-Superfluous Injury and Unnecessary Suffering; 6 Customary Principles-Indiscriminate Weapons; 7 Weapons and the Environment; 8 Conventional Weapons Convention; 9 Poison, Poisoned Weapons, Asphyxiating Gases, Biological and Chemical Weapons; 10 Firearms, Bullets, and Analogous Projectiles; 11 Mines, Booby-traps, and Other Devices; 12 Rules Relating to Other Specific Technologies; 13 Nuclear Weapons; 14 Applying Weapons Law to Particular Weapon Systems; 15 Cluster Munitions; 16 Maritime and Outer Space Weapons; 17 Unexploded and Abandoned Weapons; 18 Non-International Armed Conflict; 19 Compliance with International Weapons Law; 20 Technology, Humanitarian Concern and the Future