Treatise on International Criminal Law

Volume 1: Foundations and General Part

Kai Ambos

The first volume of a comprehensive three-volume treatise on international criminal law
Features detailed analysis of international and national case law as well as all of the relevant scholarship
Sets out procedural problems and proposes a set of solutions
Written by one of the experts in the field, with extensive practical, judicial, and academic experience

Treatise on International Criminal Law

Volume 1: Foundations and General Part

Kai Ambos

Description

Since the adoption of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in 1998, international criminal law has rapidly grown in importance. This three-volume Treatise on International Criminal Law presents a foundational, systematic, consistent and comprehensive analysis of international criminal law. Taking into account the scholarly literature, not only sources written in English but also in French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, the book draws on the author's extensive academic and practical work in international criminal law.

This first volume addresses the foundations of international criminal law and the emerging general principles. It examines the history of the discipline and the concepts behind it. Looking at the sources of international criminal law, the book then moves to investigate the general structure of crime in international criminal law, and to address in detail the role played by the concept of individual criminal responsibility. The subjective requirements of criminal responsibility are examined, and also those defences that exclude such responsibility.

The full three-volume treatise will address the entirety of international criminal law, re-stating and re-examining the fundamental principles upon which it rests, the manner it is enacted, and the key issues that are shaping its future. It will be essential reading for practitioners, scholars, and students of international criminal law alike.

Treatise on International Criminal Law

Volume 1: Foundations and General Part

Kai Ambos

Abbreviations
General Literature
List of Cases/Jurisprudence
Part I: Introduction
1: Historical Overview
2: Notion, Concept, and Sources
Part II: General Principles/General Part
3: Imputation and General Structure of Crime in ICL
4: Individual Criminal Responsibility
5: Omission, in particular Command Responsibility
6: Attempt as Special Form of Individual Responsibility
7: The Subjective Requirements in General
8: Grounds Excluding Responsibility ( "Defences ")

Treatise on International Criminal Law

Volume 1: Foundations and General Part

Kai Ambos

Author Information

Kai Ambos, Professor of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Comparative Law and International Criminal Law, Georg-August- Universität Göttingen, Germany; Judge, Kosovo Specialist Chambers Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Comparative Law and International Criminal Law, Georg-August- Universität Göttingen, Germany; Judge Provincial Court Göttingen

Kai Ambos has been Chair of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Comparative Law and International Criminal Law at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen since May 2003 and Judge at the Provincial Court (Landgericht) of Göttingen since 2006. He has been Dean of Student Affairs between summer 2008 and 2010. From 1991 to 2003, he was senior research fellow at the Max-Planck-Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law (Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany) in charge of the International Criminal Law and Spanish-speaking Latin America Sections. On behalf of Germany, he has participated in the negotiations on the creation of the International Criminal Court and later became a member of the expert working group of the German Federal Ministry of Justice on implementing the Rome Statute. He has also worked extensively in Latin America on human rights, drug-related issues and criminal law reforms. He has written widely on international criminal law and procedure.

Treatise on International Criminal Law

Volume 1: Foundations and General Part

Kai Ambos

Reviews and Awards

"Ambos has succeeded in producing a work that is supremely impressive - and not only in terms of sheer quantity. Based on his own numerous preliminary studies, he skilfully and knowledgeably draws an arc from the foundations of international criminal law and criminal theory to the details of the enforcement regime. His Treatise not only provides a stupendously comprehensive evaluation of the relevant publications on international criminal law to date, but is also a veritable treasure trove of original ideas on relevant issues in substantive and procedural law." - Thomas Weigend, Criminal Law Forum

"This is a stunningly ambitious project and the author delivers on the promise...It is destined to become the Bible for academics and practitioners in the area for many years to come." - Roger S. Clark, Criminal Law Forum

"It can be concluded without hesitation that this textbook represents an outstanding contribution to the development of International Criminal Law as an academic discipline." - Nedzad Smailagic, Pravna Misao (Legal Thought)