Editing Looting (section)

{{Short description|Indiscriminate taking of goods by force}}
{{Redirect|Plunder}}
[[File:Pluenderung der Judengasse 1614.png|thumb|The plundering of the [[Frankfurter Judengasse]], 22 August 1614]]
{{war}}
{{Criminal law}}
'''Looting''' is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as [[war]],<ref name="BBC_Baghdad_protests">{{cite news | title = Baghdad protests over looting | work = BBC News | publisher = BBC | date = 2003-04-12 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2941733.stm | access-date = 2010-10-22}}</ref> [[natural disaster]]s (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective),<ref name="BBC_Americas_looting">{{cite news | title = World: Americas Looting frenzy in quake city |work = BBC News| date = 1999-01-28 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/262848.stm | access-date = 2010-10-22}}</ref> or [[riot]]ing.<ref name="BBC_Argentine">{{cite news | title = Argentine president resigns |work = BBC News| date = 2001-12-21 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1722584.stm | access-date = 2010-10-22}}</ref> The proceeds of all these activities can be described as '''booty''', '''loot''', '''plunder''', '''spoils''', or '''pillage'''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dictionary.com/browse/looting?s=t|title=the definition of looting|website=Dictionary.com|access-date=2016-12-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dictionary.com/browse/booty|title=Booty – Define Booty at Dictionary.com}}</ref>

Looting by a victorious army during war has been a common practice throughout recorded history.<ref name=":0" /> In the wake of the [[Napoleonic Wars]] and particularly after [[World War II]], norms against wartime plunder became widely accepted.<ref name=":0" /> In modern [[armed conflict]]s, looting is prohibited by [[international law]], and constitutes a [[war crime]].<ref name="ICRC">[https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul_rule52 Rule 52. Pillage is prohibited.], ''Customary IHL Database'', [[International Committee of the Red Cross]] (ICRC)/[[Cambridge University Press]].</ref><ref>[[Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907#Hague Convention of 1899|Hague Convention on the Law and Customs of War on Land]] (Hague II), [https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/hague02.asp article 28].</ref>