Pacific blockade

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A pacific blockade is a blockade exercised by a great power for the purpose of bringing pressure to bear on a weaker state without actual war. It can be employed only as a measure of coercion by maritime powers able to bring into action such vastly superior forces to those the resisting state can dispose of that resistance is out of the question. The term was created by Laurent-Basile Hautefeuille, a French writer on international maritime law.

In that respect, it is an act of war, and any attempt to exercise it against a power strong enough to resist would be a commencement of hostilities and at once bring into play the rights and duties affecting neutrals. Here, the concept of blockade is considered to be a form of aggression or warlike and not pacific.^[1] On the other hand, since the object and justification of a pacific blockade are to avoid war, general hostilities and disturbance of international traffic with the state against which the operation is carried on, rights of war cannot consistently be exercised against ships belonging to other states than those concerned. However, if neutrals were not to be affected by it, the coercive effect of such a blockade might be completely lost. Recent practice has been to limit interference with them to the extent barely necessary to carry out the purpose of the blockading powers.