Conscience of Judges in International Criminal Law


Book Description

For the author, a judge is a person with a high ethical and moral capacity who respects their position. When we think of a court, we think about a place where we confront the truth, where every single individual, every judge and prosecutor, every victim and witness, and every accused person, offender, and the condemned, come together to reveal the naked truth. The main objective of criminal proceedings is to uphold a pure juridical system with full ethical conscience in order to protect the rights of all individuals, including members of the general public. Judges of criminal courts are required to be independent in order to pursue the truth and uphold judicial conscience, which is itself an institution based on the professional values of criminal justice. A judge with ample judicial conscience should not be afraid of being attacked or losing their position if they work to uphold and uncover the truth. This implies the independent freedom of judicial justice. If justice is safe, then the safety of the victims and the accused will also be guaranteed. That is why confidence in the professional standards of the ethical requirements of judges of national criminal courts or of the International Criminal Court is heavily contingent upon the judges' honesty, which in turn relates to their practical experiences and ought to be based on the knowledge of the essence of humanity. Professional ethics are particularly vital when evaluating diverse values and the very question of the existence of pluralist systems of national and international criminal justice which deal with core international crimes. The intention of this work is to assess the way in which our administration of national and international criminal justice requires judges to be impartial, pursue the truth, and not be the puppets of ventriloquist politicians.




Shocking the Conscience of Humanity


Book Description

The literature and jurisprudence of international criminal law relies on the claim that international crimes are exceptionally grave. They 'shock the conscience of humanity'. They are 'atrocities'. Yet what makes international crimes especially grave is rarely explained. Addressing the balance, Margaret DeGuzman explains what affect the historical occurrences that led to the heavy reliance on the concept of gravity, including the atrocities of the World War II era, and the crimes of Yugoslavia and Rwanda, had on international law. DeGuzman demonstrates how, in later decades, gravity has been used to obscure controversial value choices. This book looks to build the legitimacy of the international criminal law regime by exposing the value choices that the rhetoric of 'gravity' entails, and poses a new framework for assessing the legitimacy of international criminal law. Instead of solely relying on 'gravity', DeGuzman looks to wider values to ensure the continued legitimacy of international criminal law.




Judges and the Making of International Criminal Law


Book Description

In Judges and the Making of International Criminal Law Joseph Powderly explores the role of judicial creativity in the progressive development of international criminal law. This wide-ranging work unpacks the nature and contours of the international criminal judicial function.




Conscience of Judges in International Criminal Law


Book Description

"For the author, a judge is a person with high ethical and moral capacity who respects their position. When we think of a court, we think about a place where we confront the truth, where every single individual, every judge and prosecutor, every victim and witness, and every accused person, offender, and the condemned, come together to reveal the naked truth. The main objective of criminal proceedings is to uphold a pure juridical system with full ethical conscience in order to protect the rights of all individuals, including members of the general public. Judges of criminal courts are required to be independent in order to pursue the truth and uphold judicial conscience, which is itself an institution based on the professional values of criminal justice. A judge with ample judicial conscience should not be afraid of being attacked or losing their position if they work to uphold and uncover the truth. This implies the independent freedom of judicial justice. If justice is safe, then the safety of the victims and the accused will also be guaranteed. That is why confidence in the professional standards of the ethical requirements of judges of national criminal courts or of the International Criminal Court is heavily contingent upon their honesty, which in turn relates to their practical experiences and ought to be based on the knowledge of the essence of humanity. Professional ethics are particularly vital when evaluating diverse values and the very question of pluralist systems of national or international criminal justice which deal with core international crimes. The intention of this work is to evaluate the way in which our administration of national and international criminal justice requires judges to be impartial, pursue the truth, and not be the puppets of politicians"--




The Legacy of Nuremberg


Book Description

In this new collection of essays the editors assess the legacy of the Nuremberg Trial asking whether the Trial really did have a civilising influence or if it constituted little more than institutionalised vengeance. Three essays focus particularly on the historical context and involve rich analysis of, for example, the atmospherics of the Trial itself and the attitudes of German society at the time to the conduct of the Trial. The majority of the essays deal with the contemporary legacies of the Nuremberg Trial and attempt to assess the ongoing relevance of the Judgment itself and of the principles encapsulated in it. Some essays consider the importance of the principle of individual criminal responsibility under international law and argue that the international community has to some extent failed to fulfil the promise of Nuremberg in the decades since the Trial. Other essays focus on contemporary application of aspects of the substantive law of Nuremberg - particularly the international crime of aggression, the law of military occupation and the use of the crime of conspiracy as an alternative basis of criminal responsibility. The collection also includes essays analysing the nature and operation of a number of international criminal tribunals since Nuremberg including the permanent International Criminal Court. The final grouping of essays focus on the impact of the Nuremberg Trial on Australia examining, in particular, Australia's post-World War Two war crimes trials of Japanese defendants, Australia's extensive national case law on Article 1(F) of the Refugee Convention and Australia's national implementing legislation for the Rome Statute.







The Law and Practice of the International Criminal Court


Book Description

The International Criminal Court has significantly grown in importance and impact over the decade of its existence. This book assesses its impact, providing a comprehensive overview of its practice. It shows how the Court has contributed to major developments in international criminal law, and identifies the ways in which it is in need of reform.




The International Criminal Court


Book Description

A universal criminal court : the emergence of an idea -- The global civil society campaign -- The victory : the independent prosecutor -- The defeat : no universal jurisdiction -- The controversy : gender and forced pregnancy -- The missed chance : banning weapons -- A global civil society achievement : why rejoice?




The Nuremberg Military Tribunals and the Origins of International Criminal Law


Book Description

This book provides the first comprehensive legal analysis of the twelve war-crimes trials held in the American zone of occupation between 1946 and 1949, collectively known as the Nuremberg Military Tribunals (NMT). The judgments these Tribunals produced have played a critical role in the development of international criminal law, particularly in terms of how courts currently understand genocide, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression. The trials are of tremendous historical importance, because they provide a far more comprehensive picture of Nazi atrocities than the main Nuremberg Trial (IMT). The IMT focused exclusively on the 'major war criminals'-the Goerings, the Hesses, the Speers. The NMT, by contrast, prosecuted doctors, lawyers, judges, industrialists, bankers-the private citizens and lower-level functionaries whose willingness to take part in the destruction of millions of innocents manifested what Hannah Arendt famously called 'the banality of evil'. This book starts by tracing the history of the NMT. It then discusses the law and procedure applied by the NMT, with a focus on the important differences between Control Council Law No. 10 and the Nuremberg Charter and on the protection of the defendants' right to a fair trial. The third section, the heart of the book, provides a systematic analysis of the NMT's jurisprudence. It covers Law No. 10's core crimes, crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, as well as the crimes of conspiracy and membership of a criminal organization. This section also analyzes the general principles of liability that the Tribunals applied and on the defenses they did -and did not- recognize. The final section of the book deals with the aftermath of the trials and their historical legacy.




Judges Against Justice


Book Description

This book explores concrete situations in which judges are faced with a legislature and an executive that consciously and systematically discard the ideals of the rule of law. It revolves around three basic questions: What happen when states become oppressive and the judiciary contributes to the oppression? How can we, from a legal point of view, evaluate the actions of judges who contribute to oppression? And, thirdly, how can we understand their participation from a moral point of view and support their inclination to resist?