Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Table of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Legal Nature
- 2 Phenomenological Considerations
- 3 Emergence in Positive International Law
- 4 Post-Charter Developments
- 5 The Principles of Legality in the London Charter and Post-Charter Developments
- 6 Specific Contents
- 7 The Theories and Elements of Criminal Responsibility
- 8 Defenses and Exonerations
- 9 A Survey of National Legislation and Prosecutions for Crimes Against Humanity
- 10 Concluding Assessment: The Need for an International Convention
- Table of Authorities
- Table of Cases
- Index
7 - The Theories and Elements of Criminal Responsibility
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Table of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Legal Nature
- 2 Phenomenological Considerations
- 3 Emergence in Positive International Law
- 4 Post-Charter Developments
- 5 The Principles of Legality in the London Charter and Post-Charter Developments
- 6 Specific Contents
- 7 The Theories and Elements of Criminal Responsibility
- 8 Defenses and Exonerations
- 9 A Survey of National Legislation and Prosecutions for Crimes Against Humanity
- 10 Concluding Assessment: The Need for an International Convention
- Table of Authorities
- Table of Cases
- Index
Summary
In the law, it is not the obvious that needs to be
specified, but the ambiguous that must be clarified.
Introduction
All criminal justice systems of the world recognize the concept of individual criminal responsibility. Consequently, individual criminal responsibility is a “general principle of law” applicable to ICL. But national criminal justice systems have developed a variety of individual criminal responsibility doctrines. The divergences that exist among families of legal systems, and within them the differences as to doctrines of criminal responsibility (and their corollary elements), make it difficult to identify among them that which would constitute “general principles of law” that could be applied to ICL. As discussed in Chapter 6, the method by which “general principles of law” can be identified in comparative criminal law makes it difficult to reach outcomes that can be ascertained with any degree of scientific validity.
Although it can be asserted that the general principle of individual criminal responsibility exists in all of the world's criminal justice systems, it cannot be said, for example, that membership in a group deemed criminal by operation, and based on that group's purposes and/or actions, or other attempts to address collective responsibility, is so generally recognized.
The range of what legal systems include as part of individual criminal responsibility includes several models, which are essentially based on the policies of prevention and repression that a given legal system decided to select and apply.
- Type
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- Information
- Crimes against HumanityHistorical Evolution and Contemporary Application, pp. 472 - 580Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011