THE PAROLE.
§ 71. Prisoners of war may be released from captivity not only by exchange, but, under certain circumstances, also by parole.
The term Parole designates, in military language, the pledge of individual good faith and honor to do, or to omit doing, certain acts, after he who gives his parole shall have been dismissed, wholly or partially, from the power of the enemy.
The pledge of the parole is always an individual, but not a private act.
§ 72. The parole applies chiefly to prisoners of war, whom the captor allows to return to their country, or to live in greater freedom within the captor’s country or territory, on conditions implied by the parole.
§ 73. Release of prisoners of war by exchange, is the general rule; release by parole is the exception.
§ 74. Breaking the parole not to fight again during the war or until exchanged, is punished with death, when the person breaking the parole is captured again.
Accurate lists, therefore, of the paroled persons, must be kept by the belligerents.
§ 75. Commissioned officers only, are allowed to give their parole, and they must do it with the permission of their superior, as long as a superior in rank is within reach.
Paroling must always take place by the exchange of two written documents, in which the name and rank of the paroled individual are accurately and truthfully stated.
§ 76. No wholesale paroling, done by an officer for a number of inferiors in rank, is permitted or valid.
No paroling on the battle-field; no paroling of entire portions of troops after a battle; no dismissal of large numbers of prisoners with a general declaration that they are paroled, is permitted, or of any value.
Every officer who fails in this respect, is to be punished and cashiered.
§ 77. In capitulations for the surrender of strong places or fortified camps, the commanding officer, in cases of urgent necessity, may stipulate that the troops under his command shall not fight again in the war until exchanged; [but no more.]
§ 78. The usual pledge given in the parole is not to serve in the existing war, or not to serve for a stated time, unless exchanged.
This pledge refers only to the active service in the field, against the paroling belligerent or his allies actively engaged in the same war. It does not refer to internal service, such as recruiting or drilling the recruits, fortifying places not besieged, to quelling civil commotions, to fighting against belligerents unconnected with the paroling belligerents, or to civil or diplomatic service for which the paroled officer may be employed.
§ 79. If the government does not approve of the parole, the paroled officer must return into captivity, and should the enemy refuse to receive him, he is free of his parole.
§ 80. A belligerent government may declare by a general order, whether it will allow paroling, and on what conditions it will allow it. Such order is communicated to the enemy.
§ 81. No prisoner of war can be forced by the hostile government to parole himself, and no government is obliged to parole prisoners of war, or to parole all captured officers, if it paroles any. As the pledging of the parole is an individual act, so is paroling, on the other hand, an act of choice on the part of the belligerent.
§ 82. Civil officers kept as prisoners of war, may be paroled; but no citizens without office, no citizens in a merchant vessel stopped by a privateer or man-of-war, can be paroled. Nor can inhabitants of places or territories occupied by the enemy, be paroled by the latter. Their government does not lose its claim for military service upon such persons, should they give their parole, for it is of no value. If they should be paroled, and, being captured at a later periodas soldiers, should not be treated by the captor as prisoners of war, such conduct of the enemy would be ground for retaliation.