Commentary on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Observers' Notes, Article by Article

On July 1, 2008, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) entered into force, enabling the ICC - as laid down in the Preamble to the Statute - to affirm "that the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole must not go unpunished and that their effective prosecution must be ensured by taking measures at national level and by enhancing international cooperation." In this second edition commentary, Otto Triffterer and a number of eminent legal practitioners and scholars in the field of international criminal law give a detailed article-by-article analysis of both the Statute as well as the "Elements of Crime" and the "Rules of Procedure and Evidence," adopted by the Assembly of States Parties in 2002, and the "Regulations of the Court," adopted by the Judges of the ICC in 2004. This substantially revised and significantly amended version considers the jurisprudence of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR); other international, "semi-international," or national courts; and the relevant literature since the publication of the first edition in 1999. This book has been selected in 2009 to receive the prestigious ASIL Certificate of Merit for High Technical Craftsmanship and Utility to Practicing Lawyers and Scholars.