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The Principle of Universal Jurisdiction

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The Legacy of Punishment in International Law

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Abstract

In Chapter 2 we identified the component practices constituting international punishment: a set of nonvoluntary categorical obligations of universal scope and reach, universal interest in compliance with them, and universal standing to enforce compliance or sanction noncompliance. In Chapter 3 we traced the development of a new conceptualization of categorical obligation befitting the modern Positivist-Voluntarist understanding of obligation. In Chapter 4 we analyzed a sort of obligation that while not in se peremptory is still universally binding and ex hypothesi universally enforceable. Unlike classical punishment, however, these forms of obligation grant at most standing to take legal action and pursue legal vindication of the obligations; they do not entail grounds for the use of force.

A state has jurisdiction to define and prescribe punishment for certain offenses recognized by the community of nations as of universal concern, such as piracy, slave trade … genocide, war crimes … even when none of the [traditional] bases of jurisdiction … is present… Universal jurisdiction over the specified offenses is a result of universal condemnation of these activities and general interest in cooperating to suppress them.1

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Notes

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  1. Harry D. Gould
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© 2010 Harry D. Gould

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Gould, H.D. (2010). The Principle of Universal Jurisdiction. In: The Legacy of Punishment in International Law. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230113077_5

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