The Historical Background as Factor Favoring the Occurrence of Mercenaries and the Contemporary Role of Mercenarism in the Context of International Law

The article analyses the phenomenon of mercenalism, it focuses on the historical background and the origin of mercenaries from ancient times, throughout medieval period to modern times in the context of usage of mercenaries, the forms of military conficts as well as factors favoring their occurrence as warriors. The article describes the most signifcant international legal acts concerning mercenaries and examine the elements of the present legal defnition of mercenary found in Additional Protocol I to Geneva Convention presenting weaknesses of the regulation and proves that in fact mercenary is able to avoid responsibility for his illegal actions.