Gerhard Werle, Principles of International Criminal Law

Abstract

Gerhard Werle's Principles of International Criminal Law is a volume written in the best traditions of continental legal scholarship, offering a systemic presentation of both the ‘general’ and ‘specific’ parts of contemporary international criminal law. Unlike some earlier treatises on international criminal law, which have presented a combined presentation of both international criminal law and procedure,1 Werle's work focuses exclusively on material law. According to the author, who is Professor of German and International Criminal Law at the Alexander-von-Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, the book's structure and style allow for its use both as a reference work and as a practitioner's manual. The book is subdivided in six parts, presenting the foundations, principles and system-building institutions of international criminal law, as well as providing detailed comments on the elements of core international crimes — genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression. Summing up the main approaches towards elements of crimes in international criminal law, the author concludes that, unlike in domestic criminal law systems, international crimes have three elements under international criminal law: a material element, a psychological element and the existence or absence of circumstances which exclude criminal responsibility. From Professor Werle's point of view, this theoretical construction brings to an ‘average’ common denominator the Anglo-Saxon conception which encompasses only two elements of crimes (so called actus reus and mens rea), and the continental conception, which ‘splits’ crimes into four elements (subject and subjective aspect of a crime, object and objective aspect of a crime). The specific elements of international crimes, which are considered in subsequent parts of the book, are further characterized from the point of view of these three elements (material, psychological and circumstantial).