The sentry's dilemma. the laws of war and the rights of the prisoner of war in eighteenth century Britain

Abstract

What are the practical effects of the status of the prisoner of war? What are the concrete conditions in which the prisoners' rights were claimed, recognized or denied? In prison, the institutional density and the intertwinement of multiple forms of control created specific juridical configurations. In conflict situations, different actors could choose to legitimize their actions by referring, or not, to normative texts. Prisoners of war displayed collective inventiveness in order to appeal to external authorities outside the prison walls. Likewise, what could be termed the sentry's dilemma stemmed from the choice that custodians always had to make, in a given situation, to apply their orders, or to legitimize their authority vis-à-vis the inmates. Ultimately, the question is raised whether shared norms of justice, which were the product of negotiation as much as conflict, were elaborated in prison.