Legality in the Modern International and Internationalized Criminal Courts and Tribunals

Abstract

This is a draft Chapter 6 of Kenneth S. Gallant, The Principle of Legality in International and Comparative Criminal Law (Cambridge Univ. Press 2009).

Chapter 6 examines the principle of legality in the international and internationalized courts and tribunals from the ICTY through the ICC and the new tribunals such as Sierra Leone, Kosovo, East Timor and Cambodia. It examines both legal texts of the courts and practice for those courts where there is practice. The ICC provisions particularly are more complex than they are sometimes given credit for being, and limit the jurisdiction of the Court, including in some cases of Security Council referrals. The ad hoc and internationalized tribunal materials discusses how the principle of legality in criminal law binds international organizations, as well as states, in the process of criminal law-making.

Keywords: Criminal Law, International Law, International Criminal Law, International Criminal Courts, International Organizations, Legality, Nullum Crimen Sine Lege