Lawfare - Origin of The Term

Origin of The Term

Perhaps the first use of the term "lawfare" was in a 1975 manuscript arguing the Western legal system has become overly contentious and utilitarian as compared to the more humanitarian, norm-based Eastern system, called Whither Goeth the Law.

A more frequently cited use of the term was Charles J. Dunlap, Jr.'s 2001 essay authored for Harvard's Carr Center. In that essay, Dunlap defines lawfare as "the use of law as a weapon of war." He later expanded on the definition, explaining lawfare was "the exploitation of real, perceived, or even orchestrated incidents of law-of-war violations being employed as an unconventional means of confronting" a superior military power.

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