Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-tdptf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-13T05:18:25.560Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - Introduction: What is International Criminal Law?

from PART A - INTRODUCTION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Robert Cryer ,
Hakan Friman ,
Darryl Robinson  and
Elizabeth Wilmshurst
Robert Cryer
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham
Hakan Friman
Affiliation:
University College London
Darryl Robinson
Affiliation:
Queen's University, Ontario
Elizabeth Wilmshurst
Affiliation:
University College London
Get access

Summary

International criminal law

International law typically governs the rights and responsibilities of States; criminal law, conversely, is paradigmatically concerned with prohibitions addressed to individuals, violations of which are subject to penal sanction by a State. The development of a body of international criminal law which imposes responsibilities directly on individuals and punishes violations through international mechanisms is relatively recent. Although there are historical precursors and precedents of and in international criminal law, it was not until the 1990s, with the establishment of the ad hoc Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, that it could be said that an international criminal law regime had evolved. This is a relatively new body of law, which is not yet uniform, nor are its courts universal.

International criminal law developed from various sources. War crimes originate from the ‘laws and customs of war’, which accord certain protections to individuals in armed conflicts. Genocide and crimes against humanity evolved to protect persons from what are now often termed gross human rights abuses, including those committed by their own governments. With the possible exception of the crime of aggression with its focus on inter-State conflict, the concern of international criminal law is now with individuals and with their protection from wide-scale atrocities. As was said by the Appeal Chamber in the Tadić case in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY):

A State-sovereignty-oriented approach has been gradually supplanted by a human-being-oriented approach … [I]nternational law, while of course duly safeguarding the legitimate interests of States, must gradually turn to the protection of human beings […]

Type
Chapter
Information
An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure , pp. 3 - 21
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Dapo, Akande, ‘Sources of International Criminal Law’ in Cassese, Antonio et al. (eds.), The Oxford Companion to International Criminal Justice (Oxford, 2009) 41.Google Scholar
Bass, Gary J., Stay the Hand of Vengeance: The Politics of War Crimes Tribunals (Princeton, 2000).Google Scholar
M. Cherif, Bassiouni, International Criminal Law, 3rd edn (Leiden, 2008) vol. I.Google Scholar
Machteld, Boot, Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, War Crimes: Nullum Crimen Sine Lege and the Subject Matter Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (Antwerp, 2002) 127–87.Google Scholar
Bruce, Broomhall, International Justice and the International Criminal Court: Between State Sovereignty and the Rule of Law (Oxford, 2003) ch. 1.Google Scholar
Antonio, Cassese, ‘The Influence of the European Court of Human Rights on International Criminal Tribunals – Some Methodological Remarks’ and Erik Møse, ‘Impact of Human Rights Conventions on the two ad hoc Tribunals’ in Bergsmo, Morten (ed.), Human Rights and Criminal Justice for the Downtrodden (The Hague, 2003) chs. II and VIII respectively.Google Scholar
Robert, Cryer, Prosecuting International Crimes: Selectivity in the International Criminal Law Regime (Cambridge, 2005) Introduction, chs. 1 and 5.Google Scholar
Vladimir, Djuro-Degan, ‘On the Sources of International Criminal Law’ (2005) 4 Chinese Journal of International Law45.Google Scholar
Fletcher, George P., The Grammar of Criminal Law: American, Comparative and International: Volume I: Foundations (Oxford, 2007).Google Scholar
Jørgensen, Nina H. B., The Responsibility of States for International Crimes (Oxford, 2000).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCormack, Timothy L. H., ‘From Sun Tzu to the Sixth Committee, The Evolution of an International Criminal Law Regime’ in McCormack, Timothy L. H. and Simpson, Gerry J. (eds.), The Law of War Crimes, National and International Approaches (The Hague, 1997) 31.
Alain, Pellet, ‘Applicable Law’ in Cassese, Antonio, Gaeta, Paola and Jones, John R. W. D. (eds.), The Rome Statute: A Commentary (Oxford, 2002) 1051.Google Scholar
Rubin, Alfred P., Ethics and Authority in International Law (Cambridge, 1997).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Georg, Schwarzenberger, ‘The Problem of an International Criminal Law’ (1950) 3 Current Legal Problems263.Google Scholar
Robert, Jennings and Watts, Arthur (eds.), Oppenheim's International Law (9th edn, London, 1994) 5–71
Glanville, Williams, ‘The Definition of Crime’ (1955) 8 Current Legal Problems107Google Scholar
Georg, Schwarzenberger, ‘The Judgment of Nuremberg’ (1947) 21 Tulane Law Review329 at 349Google Scholar
Barbara, Yarnold, ‘Doctrinal Basis for the International Criminalisation Process’ (1994) 4 Temple International and Comparative Law Journal85Google Scholar
Kai, Ambos, Internationales Strafrecht, 2nd edn (Berlin, 2008)Google Scholar
Neil, Boister, ‘Transnational Criminal Law?’ (2003) 14 European Journal of International Law953 at 967–77Google Scholar
Lyal, Sunga, The Emerging System of International Criminal Law (The Hague, 1997)Google Scholar
Bassiouni, M. Cherif, ‘The Sources and Content of International Criminal Law’ in Bassiouni, M. Cherif (ed.), International Criminal Law, 2nd edn (New York, 1999) 3, 98Google Scholar
Bassiouni, M. Cherif, Crimes Against Humanity In International Criminal Law (2nd edn, The Hague, 1999) 243–6, 256Google Scholar
,Nuremberg IMT: Judgment and Sentences (1947) 41 American Journal of International Law172 at 221CrossRef
Jescheck, Hans-Heinrich, Die Verantwortlichkeit der Staatsorgane nach Völkerstrafrecht (Bonn, 1951) 9Google Scholar
Otto, Triffterer, Dogmatische Untersuchungen zur Entwicklung des materiellen Völkerstrafrechts seit Nürnberg (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1966) 34Google Scholar
Gerhard, Werle, Principles of International Criminal Law (The Hague, 2005) 25Google Scholar
Yoram, Dinstein, ‘International Criminal Law’ (1975) 5 Israel Yearbook on Human Rights55 at 67Google Scholar
Antonio, Cassese, International Criminal Law, 2nd edn (Oxford, 2007)Google Scholar
Haverman, Roelof, Kavran, Olga and Nicholls, Julian (eds.), Supranational Criminal Law: A System Sui Generis (Antwerp, 2003)
Theodor, Meron, ‘War Crimes in Yugoslavia and the Development of International Law’ (1994) 88 American Journal of International Law78Google Scholar
Guénaël, Mettraux, International Crimes and the Ad Hoc Tribunals (Oxford, 2005) 7–9Google Scholar
Jean-Marie, Henckaerts and Doswald-Beck, Louise, Customary International Humanitarian Law (Cambridge, 2005) 572Google Scholar
Héctor, Olásolo, ‘A Note on the Principle of Legality in International Criminal Law’ (2007) 19 Criminal Law Forum301Google Scholar
Maurice, Mendelson, ‘The Formation of Customary Law’ (1998) 272 Recueil des cours de l'Academie de droit international159)Google Scholar
Robert, Cryer, ‘Neither Here nor There? The Status of International Criminal Jurisprudence in the International and UK Legal Orders’ in Bohlander, Michael and Kaikobad, Kaiyan (eds.), Law, Perspectives on Legal Order and Justice – Essays in Honour of Colin Warbrick (Leiden, 2010) 155Google Scholar
Leila, Sadat Wexler, ‘The Interpretation of the Nuremberg Principles by the French Court of Cassation: From Touvier to Barbie and Back Again’ (1994) 32 Columbia Journal of International Law289Google Scholar
Vinuesa, R. Emilio, ‘Interface, Correspondence and Convergence of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law’ (1998) 1 Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law69CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schabas, William A., ‘Criminal Responsibility for Violations of Human Rights’ in Symonides, Janusz (ed.), Human Rights, International Protection, Monitoring, Enforcement (Aldershot, 2003) 281Google Scholar
Darryl, Robinson, ‘The Identity Crisis of International Criminal Law’ (2008) 21 Leiden Journal of International Law925Google Scholar
Allison, Marston Danner and Martinez, Jenny, ‘Guilty Associations: Joint Criminal Enterprise, Command Responsibility and the Development of International Criminal Law’ (2005) 93 California Law Review75Google Scholar
André, Nollkaemper, ‘Concurrence Between Individual Responsibility and State Responsibility in International Law’ (2003) 52 International and Comparative Law Quarterly615Google Scholar
Marko, Milanović, ‘State Responsibility for Genocide – A Follow-Up’ (2007) 18 European Journal of International Law669Google Scholar
Paola, Gaeta, ‘On What Conditions May A State be Responsible for Genocide?’ (2007) 18 European Journal of International Law631Google Scholar
Antonio, Cassese, ‘On the Use of Criminal Law Notions in Determining State Responsibility for Genocide’ (2007) 5 Journal of International Criminal Justice875Google Scholar
Antonio, Cassese, ‘The Nicaragua and Tadić Tests Revisited in the Light of the ICJ Judgment on Genocide in Bosnia’ (2007) 18 European Journal of International Law649Google Scholar
Marina, Spinedi, ‘On the Non-Attribution of the Bosnian Serbs’ Conduct to Serbia' (2007) 5 Journal of International Criminal Justice829Google Scholar
Mirjan, Damaška, ‘The Shadow Side of Command Responsibility’ (2001) 49 American Journal of Comparative Law455Google Scholar
Claus, Kreß, ‘The Crime of Genocide Under International Law’ (2006) 6 International Criminal Law Review461Google Scholar
Simester, A. P. and Sullivan, G. R., Criminal Law: Theory and Doctrine (3rd edn, Oxford, 2007)Google Scholar
,Nuremberg IMT Judgment (1947) 41 American Journal of International Law172 at 217CrossRef
Gordon, Ireland, ‘Ex Post Facto From Rome to Tokyo’ (1946) 21 Temple Law Quarterly27Google Scholar
William, Schabas, The UN International Criminal Tribunals: The former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone (Cambridge, 2006) 63–7Google Scholar
Antonio, Cassese, ‘Black Letter Lawyering vs Constructive Interpretation: The Vasiljević Case’ (2004) 2 Journal of International Criminal Justice265Google Scholar
Mohamed, Shahabuddeen, ‘Does the Principle of Legality Stand in the Way of Progressive Development of the Law?’ (2004) 2 Journal of International Criminal Justice1007Google Scholar
Ben, Emmerson and Ashworth, Andrew, Human Rights and Criminal Justice (London, 2001) 281–92Google Scholar
Kai, Ambos, ‘Nulla Poena Sine Lege in International Criminal Law’ in Haveman, Roelof and Olusanya, Olaoluwa (eds.), Sentencing and Sanctioning in International Criminal Law (Antwerp, 2006) 17Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×