Editing Preemptive war (section)

===Prior to World War I===

As early as 1625, Dutch jurist [[Hugo Grotius]] characterized a state's right of self-defense to include the right to forestall an attack forcibly.<ref>{{citation|volume=5|publisher=Temp. Int'l & Comp. L.J.|pages=231|year=1991|title=Permissibility of State-Sponsored Assassination during Peace and War, The|author=Beres, Louis R.|url=http://heinonlinebackup.com/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/tclj5&section=15}}</ref> In 1685, the [[Kingdom of Scotland|Scottish government]] conducted a preemptive military strike against [[Clan Campbell]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Thomas Heyck|title=A History of the Peoples of the British Isles: From 1688 to 1914|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=beQDAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA29|date=27 September 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-41521-2|page=29}}</ref> In 1837, a certain legal precedent regarding preemptive wars was established in the [[Caroline affair|''Caroline'' affair]], during which an Anglo-Canadian force from [[Upper Canada]] crossed the [[Niagara River]] into the [[United States]] and captured and burnt the ''Caroline'', a ship owned by [[Reform movement (Upper Canada)|Reformist rebels]]. During the affair, an American citizen was killed by a Canadian sheriff.  

The British asserted that their actions were permissible under the international law of self-defense. The United States did not deny that preemptive force might be lawful under some circumstances but claimed the facts did not support its use in this case. [[United States Secretary of State|U.S. Secretary of State]] [[Daniel Webster]] wrote that when a nation uses force "within the territory of a power at peace, nothing less than a clear and absolute necessity can afford ground of justification" and that the necessity for the use of armed force must be "instant, overwhelming, leaving no choice of means, and no moment for deliberation," which conditions did not apply in this case.<ref>"The Diplomatic and Official Papers of Daniel Webster While Secretary of State" pp. 105, 110 (Harper & Bros. 1848).</ref> That formulation is part of the [[Caroline test|''Caroline'' test]], which "is broadly cited as enshrining the appropriate [[international customary law|customary law]] standard."<ref>Duffy, Helen (2005). ''The 'War on Terror' and the Framework of International Law''. Cambridge University Press. p. 157.{{ISBN|978-0521547352}}</ref>