| Sumario: | This article explores the extent to which, and in what way, the timing of the legal regulation of battlefield weapons and practices matters. Specifically, we consider the challenges and opportunities of ex ante regulation—the imposition of rules and controls before a weapon or practice has been used in battle. We argue that timing shapes both the challenges confronted by and the opportunities afforded to norm entrepreneurs, particularly in terms of their exploitation of normative shock. Timing may also have an instrumental impact, influencing the degree to which perceptions of military utility either facilitate or impede the creation of battlefield regulation. We examine three cases to make this argument: the ban on explosive bullets in the 1868 St Petersburg Declaration; the regulation of bombardment from the air beginning in 1899; and the campaign which culminated in the 1995 Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons. Examining these cases reveals that early regulation has value, despite some inherent challenges, providing a legal and normative template upon which more successful regulation can be built for the future.
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