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Kant, Immanuel

"The Science Of Right"

Treaties are drawn up; not indeed
according to any right that it pertains to him to protect, on
account of an alleged lesion by his opponent, but as taking this
question upon himself, he bases the right to decide it upon his own
power. Hence the conqueror may not demand restitution of the cost of
the war; because he would then have to declare the war of his opponent
to be unjust. And even although he should adopt such an argument, he
is not entitled to apply it; because he would have to declare the
war to be punitive, and he would thus in turn inflict an injury. To
this right belongs also the exchange of prisoners, which is to be
carried out without ransom and without regard to equality of numbers.
Neither the conquered state nor its subjects lose their political
liberty by conquest of the country, so as that the former should be
degraded to a colony, or the latter to slaves; for otherwise it
would have been a penal war, which is contradictory in itself. A
colony or a province is constituted by a people which has its own
constitution, legislation, and territory, where persons belonging to
another state are merely strangers, but which is nevertheless
subject to the supreme executive power of another state. This other
state is called the mother-country. It is ruled as a daughter, but has
at the same time its own form of government, as in a separate
parliament under the presidency of a viceroy (civitas hybrida).


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