INTERNATIONAL
CRIMINAL LAW
COURSE STRUCTURE
I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW
II. SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS
III. INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW
PROCEDURE
IV. INTERNATIONAL CRIMES AND
INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNALS
WHAT IS
INTERNATIONAL
CRIMINAL LAW?
TWO LEVELS OF
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
AND INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL
TRIBUNALS
TRANSNATIONAL AND
INTERNATIONAL CRIMES
PROSECUTED NATIONALLY
TRANSNATIONAL CRIMES
EXAMPLES –
COMPUTER CRIMES
DRUG CRIMES
TERRORISM
MONEY LAUNDERING
GENERAL
PRINCIPLES OF
INTERNATIONAL
CRIMINAL LAW
KEY TERMS IN
INTERNATIONAL
CRIMINAL LAW
COMITY
COMPLEMENTARITY
ERGA OMNES
JUS COGENS
ERGA OMNES
OBLIGATION TO ENFORCE
JUS COGENS NORMS
EXTRATERRITORIALITY
NE BIS IN IDEM
SOURCES OF
INTERNATIONAL
CRIMINAL LAW
RESTATEMENT (THIRD) OF THE
FOREIGN RELATIONS LAW OF
THE UNITED STATES
CUSTOMARY LAW
INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT
FROM GENERAL PRINCIPLES
COMMON TO THE MAJOR LEGAL
SYSTEMS OF THE WORLD
THE STATUTE OF THE
INTERNATIONAL COURT OF
JUSTICE
ARTICLE 38
1. The Court, whose function is to decide in accordance with
international law such disputes as are submitted to it, shall apply:
(a) international conventions, whether general or particular,
establishing rules expressly recognized by the contesting states;
(b) international custom, as evidence of a general practice accepted
as law;
(c) the general principles of law recognized by civilized nations;
(d) subject to the provisions of Article 59, judicial decisions and the
teachings of the most highly qualified publicists of the various
nations, as subsidiary means for the determination of the rules of
law.
The Paquete Habana
“where there is no treaty, and no controlling
executive or legislative act or judicial decision,
resort must be had to the customs and usages of
civilized nations; and, as evidence of these, to
the works of jurists and commentators, who by
years of labor, research and experience, have
made themselves peculiarly well acquainted with
the subjects of which they treat. Such works are
resorted to by judicial tribunals, not for the
speculations of their authors concerning what the
law ought to be, but for trustworthy evidence of
what the law really is.”
THE CASE OF THE
S.S.
LOTUS
(FRANCE v.
TURKEY)
BOWMAN CASE
SOME FACTORS TO CONSIDER
1922 DECISION
CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD
ACT OCCURS OUTSIDE THE UNITED
STATES
IS CRIMINAL
JURISDICTION
DIFFERENT?
WHEN DO YOU HAVE
EXTRATERRITORALITY?
CRIMINAL AND CIVIL
LAW ARE NOT THE
SAME WITH RESPECT
TO JURISDICTION
KEY QUESTIONS
WHAT DID CONGRESS INTEND?
DID CONGRESS INTEND
EXTRATERRITORIALITY?