State of war
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 335 U.S. 160 - Ludecke v. Watkins · 1948Most cited · 359 citing opinions
War does not cease with a cease-fire order, and power to be exercised by the President such as that conferred by the Act of 1798 is a process which begins when war is declared but is not exhausted when the shooting stops. 'The state of war' may be terminated by treaty or legislation or Presidential proclamation.
How often courts cite the cases defining “State of war”
Court decisions citing the 2 opinions that defined “State of war” — 392 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 2 definitions, chronological · 1814–1948
- ORIGINAL
In the state of war, nation is known to nation only by their armed exterior; each threatening the other with conquest or annihilation. The individuals who compose the belligerent states, exist, as to each other, in a state of utter occlusion. If they meet, it is only in combat.