Kelsen's Contribution to International Criminal Law

Abstract

Although Kelsen`s theory of international law was open to recognizing the individual as a subject of the international legal order, the question of international criminal law captured his attention only in the aftermath of the Second World War. He approached this theme through the device of a meta-juridical concept of `justice`. Kelsen`s scathing criticism of the Nuremberg trial as `victors` justice` was not only due to his disappointment with the Trial`s shortcomings. The reasons can also be found in Kelsen`s adherence to a traditional view of `act of State`, which had already been challenged at that time, and, in the end, a nineteenth century state-centric conception of law.