International criminal law has witnessed significant developments in recent years. The work and jurisprudence of the International Criminal Court have grown, not always without controversy, while the states parties to the Rome Statute have succeeded in adopting a definition of the crime of aggression. Numerous questions of international criminal law, from the definition of the crime of genocide to the content of the obligation to prosecute or extradite, have come before the International Court of Justice. Meanwhile, debates over the prosecution of international crimes before national courts have come to a head, with differences over universal jurisdiction and the immunity of state officials from foreign criminal jurisdiction being aired in the Sixth Committee of the United Nations General Assembly.
International Criminal Law provides a comprehensive overview of an increasingly integral part of public international law. It complements the usual accounts of the substantive law of those international crimes tried to date before international criminal courts and of the institutional law of those courts with in-depth analyses of fundamental formal juridical concepts such as an 'international crime' and an 'international criminal court'; with detailed examinations of the many international crimes provided for by way of multilateral treaty and of the attendant obligations and rights of states parties; and with sustained attention to the implementation of international criminal law at the national level. Direct, concise, and precise, International Criminal Law should prove a valuable resource for scholars and practitioners of the discipline of international criminal law.
