Topic

The incorporation of customary crimes in English law

Author/Academic

Roger O’Keefe

Viewpoint

Traces the debate in R v Jones where Lord Bingham held that a customary crime ‘may, but need not, become part of the domestic law of England without the need for any domestic statute or judicial decision’. This incorporation of customary crimes was subject to two limitations: (a) the Knuller rule, whereby the courts cannot introduce new crimes, and (b) that Parliament typically enacts statutes in respect of treaty and customary crimes, and that if it refuses to do so with regard to a particular offence this is the end of the matter. In the present instance, the International Criminal Court Act 2001 intentionally excluded aggression from its ambit, thus leading to the conclusion that it should not be treated as a domestic crime in England.

Source

‘Customary International Crimes in English Courts’, 72 British Yearbook of International Law (2002) 293

Topic

The permissibility of judicial review in respect of Security Council resolutions

Author/Academic

Jean D’Aspremont, Frédéric Dopagne

Viewpoint

Following the ECJ’s decision in Kadi, it is no longer taken for granted that SC resolutions are automatically applicable in the domestic spheres of UN member States. Rather, their implementation has to be consistent with international human rights and although States are under a duty to enforce the resolutions of the SC they must do so in a manner that does not violate human rights as well as their duties under the law of the EU.

Source

‘Kadi: The ECJ’s Reminder of the Elementary Divide between Legal Orders’, 5 International Organisations Law Review (2009) 371