"Preface" [2013] ELECD 372; in Carter, Linda; Pocar, Fausto (eds), "International Criminal Procedure" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013) x

Book Title: International Criminal Procedure

Editor(s): Carter, Linda; Pocar, Fausto

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857939579

Section Title: Preface

Number of pages: 2

Extract:

Preface
The choice of procedures for international criminal courts is an unusual
process, often untethered to any particular national procedure. For the
first international criminal court since Nuremberg, the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the judges were able to
select the applicable procedures. For the International Criminal Court,
the Assembly of States Parties decided upon them. Some of the mixed tri-
bunals, such as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia,
primarily followed a national procedure. With all of the courts, however,
choices were necessary. The idea for this book grew from a realization
that many of the procedures in international criminal tribunals reflect an
interaction of civil law and common law. This interface of procedures is
at times a smooth merger and at times an uneasy union. One key ingredi-
ent for making well-reasoned decisions is a comprehension of the context
from which a procedure is derived. This analysis calls for an understand-
ing of comparative legal systems, their premises and component parts.
Civil law and common law are the focus of this book because those are
the systems to which the international courts turned. Other legal systems
in the world are important as well and could become the basis for interna-
tional procedures in the future.
This book is intended for anyone interested in the complex and fasci-
nating interaction of civil law and common law procedures in the inter-
national criminal courts. Students of international criminal law will gain
a basic understanding of ...