Darryl Robinson, Justice in Extreme Cases. Criminal law Theory Meets International Criminal Law

Abstract

Justice in Extreme Cases is a book like not many others. There is a profound interplay between notions of international criminal law (ICL), legal theory and philosophy in this volume, which takes the reader to a higher level of reflection. For this reason, one may want to challenge him- or herself with this reading. Robinson argues that the encounter between criminal law theory and ICL can be illuminating: the former can challenge the latter, while the newer ICL issues and problems can also serve as a challenge to and improve criminal law theory. In this respect, the author advocates for a more deontic reasoning in approaching ICL, which he defines as ‘normative reasoning that focuses on our duties and obligations to others’, as opposed to a more classic ‘precedential or teleological reasoning’.1 In other words, Robinson supports a more reasoning- and purpose-based approach to ICL — which takes into account the subjects it affects, including accused persons — as opposed to a mere mechanical development of the field and replication of domestic law principles and theory into ICL. This approach is omnipresent in all three main parts of the book.