Writing History in International Criminal Trials

This book uses empirical research on three international criminal tribunals to understand how law and history are combined in the courtroom.

Richard Ashby Wilson (Author)

9780521138314, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 7 March 2011

272 pages, 8 b/w illus. 2 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.49 kg

"This book... is not simply an academic analysis of historical claims in international criminal trials, although it is that too. More significantly, it is an examination of how seemingly extra-legal concerns become a necessary part of legal practice. Given that international criminal trials can never be simply about international criminal law, the book examines what is lost and what is gained when historical claims enter the picture. This is an issue of great interest for anyone interested in the principles of due process, as well as the relative justice of international criminal law."

Tobias Kelly
Journal of Human Rights Practice

Why do international criminal tribunals write histories of the origins and causes of armed conflicts? Richard Ashby Wilson conducted research with judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and expert witnesses in three international criminal tribunals to understand how law and history are combined in the courtroom. Historical testimony is now an integral part of international trials, with prosecutors and defense teams using background testimony to pursue decidedly legal objectives. In the Slobodan Miloševi? trial, the prosecution sought to demonstrate special intent to commit genocide by reference to a long-standing animus, nurtured within a nationalist mindset. For their part, the defense called historical witnesses to undermine charges of superior responsibility, and to mitigate the sentence by representing crimes as reprisals. Although legal ways of knowing are distinct from those of history, the two are effectively combined in international trials in a way that challenges us to rethink the relationship between law and history.

1. Assessing court histories of mass crimes
2. What does the 'international' actually mean for international criminal trials?
3. Contrasting evidence: international and common law approaches to expert testimony
4. Does history have any legal relevance in international criminal trials?
5. From monumental history to micro-histories
6. Exoneration and mitigation in defense histories
7. Misjudging Rwandan society and history at the international criminal tribunal for Rwanda
8. Permanent justice: the international criminal court
9. Conclusion: new directions in international criminal trials.

Subject Areas: International humanitarian law [LBBS], Public international law [LBB], Law [L]