Table Of ContentHistorical Origins of International
Criminal Law: Volume 4
Morten Bergsmo, CHEAH Wui Ling, SONG Tianying and YI Ping (editors)
Historical Origins of
International Criminal Law:
Volume 4
Morten Bergsmo, CHEAH Wui Ling, SONG Tianying
and YI Ping (editors)
2015
Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher
Brussels
This and other books in our FICHL Publication Series may be openly accessed and
downloaded through the web site http://www.fichl.org/ which uses Persistent URLs
for all publications it makes available (such PURLs will not be changed). Printed
copies may be ordered through online and other distributors, including https://www.
amazon.co.uk/. This book was first published on 19 November 2015.
© Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher, 2015
All rights are reserved. You may read, print or download this book or any part of it
from http://www.fichl.org/ for personal use, but you may not in any way charge for
its use by others, directly or by reproducing it, storing it in a retrieval system,
transmitting it, or utilising it in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, in whole or in part, without the prior
permission in writing of the copyright holder. Enquiries concerning reproduction
outside the scope of the above should be sent to the copyright holder. You must not
circulate this book in any other cover and you must impose the same condition on
any acquirer. You must not make this book or any part of it available on the Internet
by any other URL than that on http://www.fichl.org/.
ISBN 978-82-8348-017-7 (print) and 978-82-8348-016-0 (e-book)
Dedicated to CHEAH Choo Kheng and GOH Yuen Yong
EDITORS’ PREFACE
With the release of this Volume 4 of Historical Origins of International
Criminal Law, the research project with the same name has fulfilled its
publication goals. As editors we hope the four volumes – containing in
their first editions more than 3,000 pages of materials – have increased
our knowledge on historical antecedents and factors contributing to the
development of international criminal law, and helped crystallise the
community of those interested in the sub-discipline of the history of inter-
national criminal law.
The scope of the project has been unusually comprehensive. The re-
sponse from scholars around the world was very encouraging, suggesting
that the project theme has united relevant actors by speaking to a shared
curiosity and wish to construct a more mature hinterland for international
criminal law, similar to what criminal law enjoys within some countries.
This should consolidate further the consensus around the basics of inter-
national criminal law – in particular the principles born out of the Nurem-
berg and Tokyo trials – regardless of differences of opinion about issues
such as the International Criminal Court, universal jurisdiction or im-
munity of state officials. International criminal law is much older than
these controversies. International criminal law is much more than the In-
ternational Criminal Court. Current controversies should not be allowed
to cloud this historical reality.
We would like to recognise the visionary role played by the Centre
for International Law Research and Policy which has conceptualised and
carried this research project from the beginning to the end. As with Vol-
ume 3, we would also like to place on record our sincere gratitude to each
member of the diverse and skilled editorial team and experts of the Torkel
Opsahl Academic EPublisher, in particular Mr. Gareth Richards (who has
again made an extraordinary contribution), Assistant Professor ZHANG
Binxin, Mr. Moritz Thörner, Mr. Alf Butenschøn Skre, Ms. Shama Ab-
basi, Mr. Ryan Nicholas Hong, Mr. Devasheesh Bais and Dr. WEI
Xiaohong. As editors, we are responsible for the final result. But all the
members of the team stand together in having completed this aspiring pro-
ject.
i
Finally, we thank the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs for sup-
port to finalise the editing of Volume 4, and the Royal Norwegian Minis-
try of Foreign Affairs for support in other aspects of this research project.
Morten Bergsmo
CHEAH Wui Ling
SONG Tianying
YI Ping
ii
FOREWORD BY WEGGER CHRISTIAN STRØMMEN
Volumes 1–4 of Historical Origins of International Criminal Law contain
more than 80 chapters by over 100 contributors from every continent.
They cover a broad spectrum of aspects of the historical evolution of in-
ternational criminal law, falling into 13 main clusters: 1) Early anteced-
ents of international criminal law; 2) the aftermath of the First World
War; 3) the period between the two World Wars; 4) the Nuremberg lega-
cy; prosecutions in 5) Japan, 6) China and Southeast Asia, and 7) Europe
after the Second World War; origins of 8) core international crimes and 9)
principles of individual criminal responsibility; contributions by 10) in-
ternationalised jurisdictions, 11) national courts, and 12) other actors and
methods; and 13) additional disciplinary perspectives.
The scope of the four volumes is broad and inclusive. They contrib-
ute important knowledge on the making of international criminal law over
decades. They show how the sufferings of victims in armed conflicts
around the world gradually made states hold those responsible accounta-
ble through criminal trials. They discuss in depth how atrocities of the
Second World War were subjected to several thousand trials in Japan,
China, Southeast Asia and Europe. War victimisation cut across nations,
religions, ethnic and other groups, and so did the trials. They were not
reserved for one nation, region or skin colour.
But states did not only hold trials at the national level. In resolution
95(1) of 1946 the United Nations General Assembly affirmed the Nurem-
berg and Tokyo principles, and later new international law instruments
such as the 1948 Genocide Convention and the 1949 Geneva Conventions
were developed. States also started a long-drawn process to develop
common international jurisdiction to enforce individual criminal respon-
sibility when national criminal justice systems cannot provide accounta-
bility for core international crimes. This ultimately led to the establish-
ment of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia
and Rwanda and several other ad hoc internationalised criminal jurisdic-
tions, prior to the entry into force of the Statute of the International Crim-
inal Court (‘ICC’) in 2002.
My country Norway has been fully supportive of these later devel-
opments of international criminal justice. This active support has, indeed,
iii
become an important part of Norway’s foreign policy in the past two dec-
ades, and continues to be so.
But some other countries have adopted a wait and see attitude to
parts of the newer developments, like the establishment of the ICC. Bring-
ing the historical perspective of these four volumes into today’s debates
on international criminal law may enhance our comprehension of the past,
and thus help us overcome diverging views when they come to the fore-
front today, and look forward. The wide geographical scope of the contri-
butions makes them particularly relevant. The four volumes remind us
that such contemporary controversies should not make us loose sight of
the strong consensus around the central principles of international crimi-
nal law. The fires and torment of the Second World War made minds so-
ber and clear. At the heart of the common purpose of states and peoples
were the United Nations Charter and the Nuremberg and Tokyo princi-
ples. They remain pillars of the international legal order. Their contribu-
tion in the past, present and future continue to serve international peace,
security and justice.
Through this large research project, the Centre for International
Law Research and Policy draws our attention to the common legacy and
interests at the core of international criminal law. By creating a discourse
community with more than 100 scholars from around the world, the Cen-
tre has set in motion a wider process that will serve as a reminder of the
importance of the basics of international criminal law. Others may wish to
follow this example and construct common ground in sister disciplines of
international law, by that helping states to not get bogged down in current
disagreements when they seek to develop the international legal order fur-
ther. History can be our instrument to find this common ground in the
field of international criminal law and related disciplines.
Wegger Christian Strømmen
Secretary General, Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
iv
