... world of inde-pendent political communities bound together by the rule of law ratherthan by the sovereignty of a single emperor. The Chinese can thereforebe said to have been the pioneers of the ... (such as the booby-trapping of temples), the use of poison, the destroying of wells and the sowing of dissension in the enemy’s ranks.46Thestruggleformoderationinwarhasbeenalongone – and one ... the law of war. It tells the story, in narrative form, of the interplay through the centuriesbetween,ontheonehand,legalideasaboutwarand,ontheotherhand,statepracticeinwarfare.Neffcovers the emergence,...