scholarly journals The trial’s the thing: Performance and legitimacy in international criminal trials

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-257
Author(s):  
Kate Leader
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Criminal Trials ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
International Criminal Trials

This article explores the relationship between performance and legitimacy in international criminal trials through the lens of the International Criminal Court (ICC). I begin by analysing the deployment of theatrical tropes by different legal scholars, such as Hannah Arendt, and David Luban, arguing that such analogies serve as a policing mechanism for the author to distinguish what they perceive to be the ‘good’ or ‘bad’ theatre of the trial. I then move beyond analogy, drawing on legal sociology and performance theory to read the criminal trial as ritual-like, normative performance. Using the ICC as a case study, I will examine how performance is deployed to create, reinforce and naturalize the role of the ICC in international criminal law. Through focusing on issues of performance and community I offer a different way of looking at what may constitute legitimacy in international criminal law from that which is offered by other legal scholars.

The Historical Function of International Criminal Trials: Re-thinking International Criminal Law

2004 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 461-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Joyce
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
Due Process ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Criminal Trials ◽  
Social Recovery ◽  
Historical Function ◽  
International Criminal Trials

AbstractThe establishment of the International Criminal Court provides an opportunity to re-think international criminal law and procedure, and to develop a more coherent theory of international criminal justice. This article argues that increasingly the demands placed upon international criminal trials go beyond the process of securing convictions. There is an increasing expectation that such trials will contribute to broader processes of social recovery and reconciliation. Claims are also made for their having a pedagogical and documentary role. To this end, the author proposes the recognition of an historical function of international criminal trials. This is suggested as best forming part of the variety of policy rationales which underpin the processes of international criminal law. It is conceded that overemphasising the role of history could be dangerous and infringe upon the rights of the accused, but it is argued that underemphasising the role of theory and history is unsatisfactory. The article concludes that recognition of an historical function for international criminal trials involves tensions, but will provide a framework and rationale for a more narrative-based and victimfocused system of international criminal law which might provide an important discursive beginning for victims and affected communities, whilst balancing due process concerns.

Ch.One Foundations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Werle Gerhard ◽  
Jeßberger Florian
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Peace Treaty ◽  
International Legal Order ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter sets down the legal and historical foundations of international criminal law. It begins with a brief overview of the history of international criminal law, beginning with the 1919 Versailles Peace Treaty and ending with the developments after the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Statute. From there, the chapter discusses the concepts, aim, and legitimacy of international criminal law before turning to the role of international criminal law within the international legal order. Afterward, the chapter turns to the sources and interpretation of international criminal law as well as universal jurisdiction, the duty to prosecute, and transitional justice. Next, the chapter considers the relationship between international and domestic courts as well as the prosecution of international crimes under international law by international and ‘internationalised’ courts. Finally, this chapter closes with a discussion on international criminal law in practice.

s.V Modalities, Ch.20 The Right to Truth in International Criminal Law

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bilsky Leora
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Criminal Trials ◽  
The Right ◽  
Personal Interests ◽  
International Criminal Trials

This chapter asks whether victims have a ‘right’ to the truth, and if they do, whether international trials are the appropriate vehicle for vindicating that right. Many have argued for a limited role for international criminal trials, focused exclusively on the fate of individual defendants, while others seek to subordinate criminal trials to larger, historiographic goals of constructing a definitive record of atrocities and other violations. The chapter reframes these debates around the concept of ‘victim rights’, especially since the Rome Statute provides a privileged place for victims in the procedural mechanics of the International Criminal Court. The argument here is then developed through discussion of four areas of doctrine: the victims’ ‘personal interests’ in the determination of guilt, the recharacterization of charges against the defendant, the right of victims to introduce evidence, and victims’ obligation to disclose exonerating evidence. The chapter concludes that these developments, combined with the role of human rights law, has ushered in an ‘emerging truth regime’.

Characterising the System of the International Criminal Court: An Exploration of the Role of the Court Through the Elements of Crimes and the Crime of Genocide

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leanne McKay
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Court System ◽  
Global Harmonisation

AbstractThis paper examines the nature of the legislative system of the International Criminal Court, as established by the Rome Statute and the Elements of Crimes. It asks, to what extent can this system be seen as self-contained and self-sustaining or is its role better described as one of global harmonisation of existing and developing international criminal law? By examining the Elements of Crimes and their operation through the case study of the crime of genocide, the paper identifies some of the contradictions and challenges facing both the judges and parties who are obliged to work within this system, and also national jurisdictions that simultaneously seek to maintain their sovereignty and be included within the International Criminal Court system.

The Relationship between State Sovereignty and the Enforcement of International Criminal Law under the Rome Statute (1998): A Complex Interplay

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 531-545 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuela Melandri
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Current System ◽  
Specific Aspect ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
State Sovereignty ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis article explores the relationship between state sovereignty and the enforcement of international criminal law under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. This doing, it attempts to map out the ambivalent and sometimes contradictory roles that different typologies sovereignty play in advancing or hindering the enforcement of international criminal law. After a brief survey of the literature on the debate over 'international law vs. state sovereignty', the paper focuses on one specific aspect of the newly established ICC: the conditions for case admissibility. The analysis will show that the relationship between state sovereignty and international criminal justice is a dynamic and complex one, which needs to be understood and contextualized within the current system of international relations.

Coordinating concurrent legal orders in the prosecution of international crimes

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 316-344
Author(s):  
BEATRICE I. BONAFÉ
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
International Crimes ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractInternational criminal law provides a particularly interesting case study for the proliferation of legal orders as it helps to understand the types of uncertainties their interaction may entail with respect to the position of the individual as well as the solutions that may be adopted in that respect. This article analyses a selected number of substantive and procedural uncertainties that originate in the relationship between international criminal law and domestic legal orders. The purpose of the discussion is to identify the particular legal devices that have been elaborated in order to ensure the coordination between these legal orders, and to suggest areas in which a better coordination is still to be achieved.

Changing the Paradigm of International Criminal Law: Considering the Work of the United Nations War Crimes Commission of 1943–1948

2013 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Plesch ◽  
Shanti Sattler
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Criminal Trials ◽  
The United Nations

Abstract More than 2,000 international criminal trials were conducted at the end of World War II in addition to those held by the International Military Tribunals (IMTs) at Nuremburg and Tokyo. Fifteen national tribunals conducted these trials in conjunction with an international war crimes commission established by these same states in October 1943 under the name, The United Nations Commission for the Investigation of War Crimes, that soon became the United Nations War Crimes Commission (UNWCC). The extensive work of the UNWCC and these tribunals serves as a source of customary international criminal law that relates directly to the current work of the International Criminal Court and the ad hoc tribunals in operation since the 1990s.

The Malabo Protocol, the ICC, and the Idea of ‘Regional Complementarity’

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Nimigan
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Judicial Interpretation ◽  
Ongoing Development ◽  
Principle Of Complementarity

Abstract The African Union (AU) has taken steps to regionalize international criminal law through the expansion of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights (ACJHR) vis-à-vis the Malabo Protocol. The principle of complementarity is a cornerstone of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Rome Statute crystallizes a complementary relationship between the ICC and domestic legal systems under Article 17 but makes no mention of regional or ad hoc jurisdictions. Prospects for including regional jurisdictions within the principle of complementarity are contingent upon a positive judicial interpretation of the principle and clearly established obligations at each level. It will necessarily require funding and support by states. Such an approach will contribute to the ongoing development of a robust system of international criminal justice. In order to effectively resolve the issue of competing mandates and effective domestic implementation, a cooperative model needs to be espoused. Although hypothetical at present, the idea of ‘regional complementarity’ is one worth thinking about in the context of constructive reform at the ICC. The prospective ACJHR offers a useful framework to analyse the potential role of regional mechanisms within the international criminal law project, broadly considered.

scholarly journals A Perspective on the Rome Statute’s Defence of Duress: The Role of Imminence

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 154-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clare Frances Moran
Keyword(s):  
Present State ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Individual

The concept of duress encapsulated in Article 31(1)(d) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is a novel inclusion in a statute created to allow prosecution of serious crimes against the person in international criminal law. Despite being the topic of much debate, the present state of the discourse remains at a fairly superficial level: existing studies focus on a general analysis of the defence and its conditions. This has included the way in which the defences merges necessity and duress, with only a few authors examining the conditions of ‘proportionality’ and ‘necessity’. This study looks at an underexplored part of the defence: the condition of imminence. The purpose of this work is to explore the idea of imminence and to review whether a clearer definition of duress could have been used, replacing the idea of imminence with the concept of the individual selecting the lesser evil.

International criminal law and the role of non-state actors in preserving open source evidence

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 268-283
Author(s):  
Róisín A Costello
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
National Level ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
State Actor ◽  
State Actors

This article analyses the current duties of non-state actors, specifically digital platform providers, to preserve and report content useful in the later prosecution of international criminal offences. The article illustrates the shortcomings of current legal mechanisms both at an international and national level by which such duties to preserve and/or report are imposed and proposes solutions which countenance a more developed role for the International Criminal Court in collecting and preserving open source evidence independent of non-state actor cooperation.

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