Collisions of Common and Civil Law Approaches within the ICC’s Unique Procedural Framework – A Permanent Challenge Exposed by Recent Developments

Abstract

Due to the different legal backgrounds of its judges, the International Criminal Court (icc) constantly faces the challenge of reconciling common and civil law approaches in its daily proceedings. At the same time, it must accommodate the special needs of international criminal justice and of the concrete trial in question. After elucidating the underlying problem of legal pluralism in international criminal procedure, the divergences of common and civil law procedural concepts and their interplay at the icc, the article faces this challenge by analysing two disputes that recently culminated in icc trials, concerning rulings on the admissibility of evidence and the admissibility of leading questions respectively. Based on these case studies, it develops practical guidelines on how civil and common law approaches could possibly be balanced within the icc’s unique procedural framework in the light of its own special needs.