In Defense of International Rules on the Use of Force

Abstract

The Nuremberg principles that emerged at the end of World War II were hailed as a momentous advance toward an effective rule of law in international society. They affirmed in unmistakable terms that aggressive war is illegal and that persons responsible for such wars are guilty of an international crime. These principles were first expressed in the London agreement of 1945, by which the leading victorious allied states-the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and France-established the International Military Tribunal to try the leaders of Nazi Germany for their role in planning and waging the war.1 An eleven-power agreement established a similar international tribunal in Tokyo to try Japanese officials and military leaders for their part in the Far Eastern war.2 Both tribunals convicted a number of defendants and imposed sentences of death or long imprisonment.3 The legal principles