The Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal
Law, History, and Jurisprudence

Challenges the persistent orthodoxies of the Tokyo tribunal and provides a new framework for evaluating the trial, revealing its importance to international jurisprudence.

David Cohen (Author), Yuma Totani (Author)

9781108820684, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 28 May 2020

559 pages
22.9 x 15.1 x 2.8 cm, 0.8 kg

'… The Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal is the kind of achievement reached by devoting a career to the field - or indeed the topic - and it promises to hold a key position in the historiography on the Tokyo trial.' Luigi Lonardo, Journal of Contemporary History

Like its Nuremberg counterpart, the Tokyo Trial was foundational in the field of international law. However, until now, the persistent notion of 'victor's justice' in the existing historical literature has made it difficult to treat it as such. David Cohen and Yuma Totani seek to redress this by cutting through persistent orthodoxies and ideologies that have plagued the trial. Instead they present it simply as a judicial process, and in so doing reveal its enduring importance for international jurisprudence. A wide range of primary sources are considered, including court transcripts, court exhibits, the majority judgment, and five separate concurring and dissenting opinions. The authors also provide comparative analysis of the Allied trials at Nuremberg, resulting in a comprehensive and empirically grounded study of the trial. The Tokyo Tribunal was a watershed moment in the history of the Asia-Pacific region. This groundbreaking study reveals it is of continuing relevance today.

Introduction
Part I. The Allied War Crimes Policy, the Indictment, and Court Proceedings: 1. The framework of the trial
2. Charges of crimes against peace
3. The Japanese system of government
4. Individual roles in the making of the war and the overall conspiracy
5. Counts on murder, conventional war crimes, and crimes against humanity
6. Accountability of war crimes
Part II. Law and Jurisprudence of the Judgments and Separate Opinions: 7. The majority judgment: crimes against peace
8. An alternative perspective on accountability for crimes against peace: the two Webb judgments
9. The majority judgment on war crimes
10. An alternative Tokyo judgment: the draft Webb judgment on war crimes
11. The dissenting opinions by Justices Bernard and Roeling
12. Pal's 'judgment', or dissenting opinion, on crimes against peace
13. Pal's treatment of war crimes charges
14. The concurring opinions of Justices Webb and Jaranilla
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Legal history [LAZ], Jurisprudence & general issues [LA], Second World War [HBWQ], Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000 [HBLW3], Asian history [HBJF], History [HB]