Common Civility: The Culture of Alegality in International Criminal Law
14 Pages Posted: 11 Jun 2011
Date Written: June 9, 2011
Abstract
Least ambitiously, this paper tries to capture the ethos of international criminal law. More ambitiously, it argues that international criminal law is, or can profitably be seen as, an ethos, rather than a body of law. In this telling, international criminal law, despite its name, emerges as an ethical-administrative enterprise rather than a legal one. If placed alongside global administrative law, international criminal law appears as alegal rather than illegal, as ignoring the principle of legality, say, rather than violating it, so that to criticize international criminal law for its illegality would be like faulting apples for not producing orange juice, and oranges for not making apple pie.
Keywords: international criminal law, global administrative law, criminal law, international law, administrative law
JEL Classification: K14, K30, K33
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation