The Grammar of Criminal Law

Author(s):  
George P. Fletcher

This book is an invitation to readers interested in the future of international cooperation to master the 12 basic dichotomies of international criminal law. The book foresees a growing interest in international order and cooperation following the current preoccupation, in Europe as well as the United States, with national self-interest. By emphasizing basic dichotomies, for example, acts vs. omissions and causation vs. background conditions, the book reinforces the jurisprudential foundations of international criminal law and also provides an easy way to master the details of the field.

Author(s):  
Beth Van Schaack

This chapter identifies three unfortunate gaps in the United States’ federal penal code: The United States lacks a crimes against humanity statute, the war crimes statute has a limited jurisdictional reach and does not conform to US obligations under the Geneva Conventions, and the code lacks express mention of superior responsibility. These gaps significantly hinder the reach of the United States’ prosecutorial authorities and have led to instances of impunity, and incomplete accountability, where perpetrators within US jurisdiction cannot be prosecuted for their substantive crimes and must be dealt with through immigration and other remedies. The chapter then evaluates various proposed amendments to Title 18, drawing upon previous bills, international criminal law, and other federal statutes. It closes by arguing that discrete statutory amendments would enable the United States to exercise leadership in atrocities prevention and response without increasing the risk that US personnel will be subjected to litigation overseas.


1999 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marten Zwanenburg

The adoption of the Statute of an International Criminal Court in July 1998 is widely regarded as a major step forward in international criminal law. The United States, however, does not share this point of view in all respects. It particularly fears that the Statute will allow prosecution of American peacekeepers for political instead of legal reasons. This article examines the provisions of the Statute in the light of that fear. It concludes that not only is such a fear unjustified, the United States position may have disastrous consequences for efforts in peacekeeping.


Author(s):  
Robert Cryer ◽  
Hakan Friman ◽  
Darryl Robinson ◽  
Elizabeth Wilmshurst

2020 ◽  
pp. 175-186
Author(s):  
Sean Fleming

This concluding chapter summarizes the implications of the Hobbesian theory of state responsibility and then looks to the future. There are three ongoing trends that are likely to alter both the nature and the scope of state responsibility: the development of international criminal law, the proliferation of treaties, and the replacement of human representatives with machines and algorithms. Although the practice of holding individuals responsible for acts of state might seem to render state responsibility redundant, the rise of international criminal law will not lead to the decline of state responsibility. The two forms of international responsibility are complementary rather than competitive. If anything, the domain of state responsibility will continue to expand in the coming decades because of the proliferation of treaties. New technologies pose the greatest challenge to current understandings of state responsibility. Thomas Hobbes' theory of the state, which is mechanistic to begin with, is well suited to the emerging world of mechanized states.


2020 ◽  
pp. 228-244
Author(s):  
Kyle M. Lascurettes

Chapter 9 (“The Future of Order”) reviews the empirical findings of the book and discusses their implications for the study of international relations. It then leverages these findings to address the two most important questions for international order in the twenty-first century: In the near term, what changes to the existing liberal order will the United States advocate as it continues to decline in relative power? And in the long term, what is its projected hegemonic successor, China, likely to do with the existing order when it finds itself in a position to fundamentally recast its underlying principles?


Daedalus ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 149 (2) ◽  
pp. 56-68
Author(s):  
Li Bin

The U.S. government considers “power competition” to be the nature of the relations among big powers, and that it will have an impact on the evolving nuclear order in the near future. When big powers worry about power challenges from their rivals, they may use the influence of nuclear weapons to defend their own power and therefore intensify the danger of nuclear confrontation. We need to manage the nuclear relations among nuclear-weapon states and nuclear-armed states to avoid the risk of nuclear escalation. The fact is that big powers including the United States have neither the interest nor the capability to expand their power, and understanding this might cause big powers to lose their interest in power competition. If we promote dialogue among nuclear-weapon states and nuclear-armed states on their strategic objectives, it is possible to reduce the power competition that results from misperceptions and overreactions. Some other factors, for example, non- nuclear technologies and multinuclear players, could complicate the future nuclear order. We therefore need to manage these factors as well and develop international cooperation to mitigate nuclear competition.


2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 656-681
Author(s):  
Joanna Nicholson

The principle of legality is an integral part of international criminal law (icl). International criminal courts and tribunals (iccts) have applied a ‘soft’ version of legality that has seldom operated as a meaningful curb upon their decisions. This article argues that, as the field of icl continues to mature and develop, its legitimacy and effectiveness would be enhanced if iccts applied a stricter version of legality. It explores the constituent elements of the principle- the doctrines of non-retroactivity, specificity, foreseeability and strict construction- examining how they have been applied in the past and suggesting ways to apply them in the future. The article argues that iccts should strive to set the gold standard when it comes to adherence to the principle of legality. This has the benefit of better protecting the rights of the accused, thereby ensuring a more effective and legitimate system of law.


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 412-447
Author(s):  
Mark A. Drumbl

This article unpacks the jurisprudential footprints of international criminal courts and tribunals in domestic civil litigation in the United States conducted under the Alien Tort Statute (ats). The ats allows victims of human rights abuses to file tort-based lawsuits for violations of the laws of nations. While diverse, citations to international cases and materials in ats adjudication cluster around three areas: (1) aiding and abetting as a mode of liability; (2) substantive legal elements of genocide and crimes against humanity; and (3) the availability of corporate liability. The limited capacity of international criminal courts and tribunals portends that domestic tort claims as avenues for redress of systematic human rights abuses will likely grow in number. The experiences of us courts of general jurisdiction as receivers of international criminal law instruct upon broader patterns of transnational legal migration and reveal an unanticipated extracurricular legacy of international criminal courts and tribunals.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 140-166
Author(s):  
Edwin Bikundo

The United States promotes freedom of navigation in the South China Sea while China constructs artificial islands in the same area to bolster up its territorial claims. Both countries utilize their navies similarly but for opposed legal reasons. This reflects a geopolitical contest with the United States championing a sea open to global navigation and commerce while China builds a primarily land based ‘New Silk Road’ linking it to critical markets and natural resources. That struggle between land and sea, similarly as it were with piracy, encompasses both the law of the sea and international criminal law. Reading Carl Schmitt’s Land and Sea in light of Johann Wolfgang Goethe’s Faust in the context of the various South China Sea disputes provides the opportunity to evaluate whether it may clarify geo-strategic issues at stake that Schmitt himself did not have the opportunity to consider when elaborating his notion of Nomos.


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