Origin Traces to the seventeenth-century writings of Hugo Grotius and gained its most influential modern application in the mid-twentieth-century Nuremberg trials following World War II.
Universal jurisdiction is the principle that a state or an international body may claim criminal jurisdiction over a person accused of certain grave offenses regardless of where the offense was committed and regardless of the accused's nationality or place of residence. It is applied to crimes considered so serious that their prosecution is treated as a responsibility owed to the international community as a whole, including genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture, extrajudicial killing and forced disappearance, offenses the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in turn defines as encompassing acts such as murder, rape, enslavement, persecution and extermination when carried out as part of a widespread or systematic attack on a civilian population. Its legal foundation rests on two related concepts: erga omnes, obligations a state owes to the international community as a whole, and jus cogens, peremptory norms of international law binding on every state regardless of consent. The principle traces its modern practice to the Nuremberg trials after the Second World War, which established that a state could try crimes that violate universal standards of right and wrong even without a direct territorial or national connection to the offense.
Facts
Origin PeriodTraces to the seventeenth-century writings of Hugo Grotius and gained its most influential modern application in the mid-twentieth-century Nuremberg trials following World War II. 1 Core PrincipleStates may prosecute certain grave crimes considered universally condemned regardless of where the crime occurred or the nationality of the accused, without a traditional territorial or national jurisdictional link. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Erga Omnes, Doctrines Erga omnes obligations, owed to the international community as a whole, are closely related to universal jurisdiction, under which any state may prosecute certain grave offenses regardless of where they occurred. No legal-system entity for international law exists in this atlas, so no in-legal-system edge is written for this doctrine.
Sources
1. Universal Jurisdiction (Wikipedia)
WikipediaWikipedia, Universal Jurisdiction article, lead section definitional sentenceQuote, Wikipedia, Universal Jurisdiction article, lead section definitional sentence
Universal jurisdiction is a legal principle that allows states or international organizations to claim criminal jurisdiction over an accused person, regardless of where the alleged crime was committed and irrespective of the accused's nationality, country of residence, or any other connection to the prosecuting entity.
1. Universal Jurisdiction (Wikipedia)
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