The Collaborative International Dictionary
Casus \Ca"sus\, n. [L.] An event; an occurrence; an occasion; a combination of circumstances; a case; an act of God. See the Note under Accident.
Casus belli, an event or combination of events which is a cause war, or may be alleged as a justification of war.
Casus fortuitus, an accident against which due prudence could not have provided. See Act of God, under Act.
Casus omissus, a case not provided for by the statute.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
n. An act seen as justifying or causing a war.
WordNet
n. an event used to justify starting a war
Wikipedia
is a Latin expression meaning "an act or event that provokes or is used to justify war" (literally, "a case of war"). A casus belli involves direct offenses or threats against the nation declaring the war, whereas a involves offenses or threats against its ally—usually one bound by a mutual defense pact. Either may be considered an
The term came into wide use in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries through the writings of Hugo Grotius (1653), Cornelius van Bynkershoek (1707), and Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui (1732), among others, and due to the rise of the political doctrine of jus ad bellum or " just war theory". The term is also used informally to refer to any "just cause" a nation may claim for entering into a conflict. It is used retrospectively to describe situations that arose before the term came into wide use, as well as being used to describe present-day situations—even those in which war has not been formally declared.
In formally articulating a casus belli, a government typically lays out its reasons for going to war, its intended means of prosecuting the war, and the steps that others might take to dissuade it from going to war. It attempts to demonstrate that it is going to war only as a last resort ( ultima ratio) and that it has "just cause" for doing so. Modern international law recognizes only three lawful justifications for waging war: self-defense, defense of an ally required by the terms of a treaty, and approval by the United Nations.
Proschema (plural proschemata) is the equivalent Greek term, first popularized by Thucydides in his History of the Peloponnesian War. The proschemata are the stated reasons for waging war, which may or may not be the same as the real reasons, which Thucydides called prophasis . Thucydides argued that the three primary real reasons for waging war are reasonable fear, honor, and interest, while the stated reasons involve appeals to nationalism or fearmongering (as opposed to descriptions of reasonable, empirical causes for fear).
Casus belli is a Latin expression meaning "An act or event that provokes or is used to justify war".
Casus Belli may also refer to:
- Casus Belli (Jericho episode), an episode of American television series Jericho
- Casus Belli (magazine), a French roleplaying magazine
Casus Belli is a French magazine about roleplaying games founded in 1980. François Marcela-Froideval became first editor in chief.
There are four historic periods of magazine issues.
- 1980-1999 (published by Excelsior Publications)
- 2000-2006 (published by Arkana Press)
- 2010-2011 (published by Casus Belli Presse)
- 2011-current ( mook form, published by Black Book Éditions)
Usage examples of "casus belli".
This is one of the great problems with those who want to use a new inspection regime to justify war on Iraq--in the expectation that Iraq would block the inspectors and so furnish Washington with a legitimate casus belli.
I was a potential cause celebre, a casus belli and all those other foreign phrases which the leader writers of The Times trot out so readily in moments of crisis, and all attempts were being made to keep the situation potential and to prevent it from becoming actual.
I believe there is casus belli and that the doctrine of preemption applies.
Even scratching an American warship was classified delicately as a casus belli, a reason for war.
It would have to find an excuse, now, the sort of casus belli that would let the Gubru proclaim to the Five Galaxies that the Earthlings' lease on Garth was null and void.