The article identifies humanitarian law related thought in some works of world literature. A starting point is Thomas More's Utopia (1516). Since Judge T. Meron has dealt extensively with Shakespeare from a similar perspective, the works referred to in the article (except Utopia) are all post-Shakespearean. The exposé ends with Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five (1969) and some dry comments on the bombing of Dresden in that book.