scholarly journals The Rise of Spanish and Latin American Criminal Theory

2008 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-383
Author(s):  
Luis E. Chiesa
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
General Structure ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Criminal Sanction ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
The Third ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
Vast Range

As the contributions to this two-part special issue demonstrate, Spanish and Latin American criminal theory has attained a remarkable degree of sophistication. Regrettably, Anglo-American scholars have had limited access to this rich body of literature. With this volume, the New Criminal Law Review has taken a very important first step toward rectifying this situation. Although the articles written for this special issue cover a vast range of subjects, they can be divided into four main categories: (1) the legitimacy of the criminal sanction, (2) the punishability of omissions, (3) the challenges that international criminal law and the fight against terrorism pose to criminal theory, and (4) the theory of justification and excuse. The articles pertaining to the first two categories will appear in the first half of this special issue (Volume 11, Number 3) and the pieces belonging to the third and fourth categories will be published in the upcoming second half (Volume 11, Number 4). In accordance with this general structure, in the pages that follow I will provide a brief summary and critique of the pieces contained in both parts.

III Imputation and General Structure of Crime in International Criminal Law

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ambos Kai
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Responsibility ◽  
General Structure ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
International Crimes ◽  
Criminal Justice Systems ◽  
General Rules ◽  
Special Part

This chapter explains the general part (GP) and special part (SP) of the criminal law, which encompasses the general rules of attribution or imputation and the relevant international crimes. It applies these concepts to International Criminal Law, especially adjusting the rules of imputation and individual responsibility to the peculiar features of the commission of crimes in a macrocriminal, collective contextIt also recounts how international criminal law had been applied with only a rudimentary system for the imputation of criminal responsibility, largely undertheorized as compared to national criminal justice systems. In fact, the chapter shows how little room was given to criminal law or even doctrinal considerations during the negotiations on ICL instruments, especially the Rome Statute of the ICC. Thus, the ICL-making process appears as largely unprincipled, policy driven, and pragmatic. It is argued however, that applied ICL is ultimately criminal law and thus must be guided by its liberal principles, especially legality, culpability and fairness.

Theodor Meron and the Humanization of International Law

2019 ◽  
pp. 220-236
Author(s):  
Aleksi Peltonen
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Life Writing ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Structural Constraints ◽  
The Third ◽  
International Legal Order ◽  
The Cold War

The chapter explores legal life-writing as a method of history within the context of international criminal law. It offers a biographical sketch of Theodor Meron and discusses some of his major works and especially his humanization thesis in light of the structural changes that occurred in the international legal order after the end of the Cold War. This account serves a triple function. The first is to draw a linkage between Meron’s scholarly works and certain developments in international criminal law. The second is to offer a critical perspective on the humanization thesis. The third is to ask questions about human agency, structural constraints, and historical causality in a self-reflective manner. Thus apart from being a work of legal life-writing in itself, the chapter simultaneously seeks to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of this form of history.

scholarly journals Nuremberg modification of international crime and criminal responsibility of individuals

2020 ◽  
pp. 414-422
Author(s):  
Vadym Popko
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Responsibility ◽  
International Crime ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Peace Treaty ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
Military Tribunal ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
Nuremberg Trials

The article analyses the formation of the Nuremberg model of international crime, its origins and preconditions, the role of theVersailles Peace Treaty of 1919 and other factors. The author states that the inability to ignore the expansion of international crimemakes criminal responsibility unavoidable, and thus the experience of the Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals bear the fundamental meaning.Examined are the legal bases of the Nuremberg trial, the main problematic issues of discussion, in particular, the recognition ofcertain acts as criminal, procedural security of the accused, harmonisation of procedural rules of different legal systems (continental,Anglo-American, Soviet legal system), immunity of officials and especially the importance of the Nuremberg Trials for the furtherdevelopment of international criminal law. The author argues that individual international criminal responsibility, which should be consideredthe first most important feature of international criminal law, was formed during the Nuremberg Trials on the basis of customarylaw, general principles of law and normative sources: the London Agreement of 1945 “On Prosecution and Punishment of the majorwar criminals of the European Axis countries” and the Statute of the International Military Tribunal. The Nuremberg Trials of1945–1946 and the Tokyo Trials of 1946–1948 were the first effective international criminal tribunals in which individuals with fullprocedural rights and acting on their own behalf were indicted. The precedents of these tribunals have proven the ability to criminalisecrimes under international law that are not crimes under national law and serve as a basis for developing a concept of international crimein a new sense that is closely linked to international justice.The author also concludes by drawing the attention to the fact that due to internationalisation of crime, two different characte -ristics and dimensions have formed: criminal responsibility stricto sensu, and criminal responsibility within the frames of a newlyformed autonomous subbranch of international criminal law – transnational criminal law.

scholarly journals The Super-Normativity of International Criminal Law

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 114 ◽  
pp. 82-86
Author(s):  
Paola Gaeta
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
International Community ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Criminal Sanction ◽  
Community Values ◽  
Normative Force ◽  
Jus Cogens

Nowadays, Prosper Weil's concerns about the emergence of international rules protecting so-called community values, and thus being endowed with special normative force in comparison to “ordinary” international rules, cannot but appear excessive. The existence of such rules as jus cogens or as rules establishing erga omnes obligations is undisputed. And yet Prosper Weil's prediction of their negative impact on the essential functions of international law has not materialized. Weil's concerns acquire instead significance in the field of international criminal law, whose development in the last decades is premised on the need to protect values fundamental to the international community as a whole through the threat of a criminal sanction against individual transgressors.

Treatise on International Criminal Law

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ambos Kai
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Responsibility ◽  
General Structure ◽  
Case Law ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
Previous Edition

This second edition of Volume I of the three-volume Treatise on International Criminal Law addresses the foundations of international criminal law and the emerging general principles. It examines the history of the discipline and the concepts behind it. Starting with the development of international criminal justice, the book proceeds as follows: it attends to the sources of international criminal law, then moves to investigate the general structure of crime in international criminal law, and addresses in detail the concept and forms of individual criminal responsibility; it then turns to the subjective requirements of criminal responsibility, and defences that exclude such responsibility. International criminal justice is a flourishing field, with the birth of new international criminal tribunals and both accountability and investigative mechanisms. Case law increases rapidly, so does the ensuing substantive scholarship. This is also true for international criminal law’s foundations and general principles, treated in this volume. Thus, the previous edition has been completely revised, updated, and rewritten in some parts. The author strived to include both relevant case law and scholarly work up to March 2021.

Main Challenges and the Future of International Criminal Law

2020 ◽  
pp. 416-430
Author(s):  
William Schabas
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
National Level ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Real Possibility ◽  
The Third ◽  
Peace Agreements ◽  
Domestic Legislation ◽  
The Future

This concluding chapter traces the long twentieth century of international criminal law to contextualize the twenty-first century’s possibilities and challenges. International criminal law has been through three periods of vigorous development punctuated by prolonged intervals of virtual dormancy. The first two such periods followed the great wars of the early twentieth century. They are sometimes referred to, in shorthand, as ‘Versailles’ and ‘Nuremberg’. The third period began in the early 1990s and has not yet run its course. Today, the future of international criminal law seems uncertain. Nevertheless, it is beyond doubt that there has been a sea change in practice at the national level. Peace agreements without provisions addressing issues of impunity and accountability are today unthinkable. Domestic legislation has evolved dramatically, responding to pressure from human rights monitoring bodies. Civil society is deeply committed to criminal justice as a necessary response to atrocity. No longer can the perpetrators of atrocity dismiss the prospect of accountability. Indeed, unlike the situation that prevailed a quarter of a century ago, justice is now a real possibility. If any tyrants need to be reminded of this, they might think about the fate of Hissène Habré.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document