International criminal law

This chapter is about international criminal law (ICL), a branch of general international law that deals with genocide, aggression, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. After presenting a definition of terms, it sketches the nature of ICL, with emphasis on the legal disciplines and legal cultures it encompasses. It also looks at the sources of ICL applied by international courts and tribunals, including judicial decisions, conventions, customs, and scholarly writings. Attention then turns to ad hoc courts and tribunals that conduct international prosecutions, including the International Criminal Court, along with the judicial lawmaking process under ICL and the legality principle. The chapter ends by discussing the modes of liability under ICL, the concept of superior responsibility, and defenses in ICL.