Intl CRL Law-Syllabus-2023
Intl CRL Law-Syllabus-2023
Intl CRL Law-Syllabus-2023
SESSION 2021-2022
(FEBRUARY – JUNE)
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BACKGROUND
International Criminal Law (ICL) is a discipline that straddles Public International Law and
Criminal Law. It simultaneously derives its origin from and continuously draws upon International
Humanitarian Law, Human Rights Law, and National Criminal Law as well. At its origin, ICL was
mainly concerned with offences committed during armed hostilities in times of war. Thereafter,
since World War II that new categories of crimes have developed. As for the rules on international
criminal proceedings, they were first laid down in the Statutes of International Military Tribunal
and the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. However, the recent establishment of
international criminal tribunals and in particular, of the International Criminal Court, has given a
stupendous impulse to the evolution of a corpus of international criminal rules proper.
OBJECTIVES OF STUDY:
This course has been designed to develop among students an understanding of the
development of major areas in ICL. The endeavour has been to present a concise yet comprehensive
overview of the subject with a view to provide basic information to the students at the
undergraduate level through this optional course.
● It tends to cover origins of international criminal law, its progressive development in terms
of substantive law since the Second World War, and the progress made towards the establishment
of permanent International Criminal Court.
● It lays emphasis on objective and subjective components the core crimes: war crimes,
genocide, crimes against humanity and crime against peace A particular emphasis will be placed on
the Statute of the International Criminal Court entered into force in 2002.
EVALUATION SCHEME:
a) Continuous Assessments 30%
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COURSE SYLLABUS
3.4 Organs of the Court: The Presidency, The chambers, Office of the prosecutor, Assembly of
States parties and Review conference.
4.2 Crimes Against Humanity: notion and origin, objective and subjective elements, possible
authors and victims, crimes against humanity under customary international law and ICC Statute
4.3 Genocide: notion and origin, objective and subjective elements,1948 Geneva Convention,
genocide under customary international law and ICC Statute
4.4 Aggression
4.5 Torture
4.6 Terrorism
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4.7 Piracy
READINGS:
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● Principles of International Cooperation in the Detection, Arrests, Extradition and
Punishment of Persons Guilty of War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity, 1973.
BOOKS
● Bantekas, Ilias and Susan Nash, International Criminal Law, 3rd ed., NY: Routlege Cavendish
Publishing, 2009
● Bassiouni, Cherif M., Introduction to International Criminal Law, Ardsley, NY: Transnational
Publishers, 2003
● Bassiouni, Cherif M., International Criminal Law, 3rd ed., Leiden, The Netherlands: Martinus N
ijhoff, 2008
● Belleli, Roberto, ed., International Criminal Justice: Law and Practice from the Rome Statute to
itsReview, England: Ashgate Publishing, 2010
● Brown, Bartram S, ed., Research Handbook on International Criminal Law,UK : Edward Elgar,
2011
● Cassese, Antonio, InternationalCriminal Law, 2nd ed., Oxford: OUP, 2008
● Cassese, Antonio, Guido Acquaviva, Mary Fan and Alex Whiting, International Criminal Law:
Cases and Commentary, London: OUP, 2011
● Cassese, Antonio, ed., The Oxford Companion to International Criminal Justice, Oxford: OUP,
2008
● Cyrer, Robert, HakanFriman, Darryl Robinson and Elizabeth Wilmhurst, An Introduction to
International Criminal Law and Procedure, 2nd ed., Cambridge, UK : Cambridge University
Press, 2010
● Doria, Jose (et al.), ed., The Legal Regime of the International Criminal Court: Essays in Honour
of Professor Igor Blishchenko, Leiden, The Netherlands: MartinusNijhoff, 2009
● Herik, Larissa van dek and Carsten Stahn, ed., The Diversification and Fragmentation of
International Criminal Law, Leiden, The Netherlands: MartinusNijhoff, 2012
● Knoops, Geert-Jan Alexander, Defenses in Contemporary International Criminal Law, 2nd ed.,
Leiden, The Netherlands: MartinusNijhoff, 2007
● Sadat, Leila Nadya and MichaelP. Scharf, ed., The Theory and Practice of International Criminal
Law: Essays in Honour of M. CherifBassiouni, Leiden, The Netherlands: MartinusNijhoff, 2008
● Schabas, William A, Nadia Bernaz, Routledge Handbook of International Criminal Law, Taylor
& Francis, 2010
● Schabas, William A, An Introduction to the Inetrnational Criminal Court, 4th ed., Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2011
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● Sunga, Lyal S., The Emerging System of International Criminal Law: Developments in
Codification and Implementation, Hague, The Netherlands: Kluwer Law International, 1997
● Werle, Gerhard, Principles of InternationalCriminal Law, 2nd ed., Hague: TMCAsser, 2009
● Werle, Gerhard and Florian Jessberger, Principles of International Criminal Law, 3rd ed., Oxford:
OUP, 2014
● Zeidy, Mohammed M E l, The Principle of Complimentarity in International Criminal Law:
Origin, development and Practice, Leiden, The Netherlands: MartinusNijhoff, 2008
ONLINE RESOURCES
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