CrimJur seminar: 'The Structure of International Criminal Law'

Speaker: Ryan Liss (Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Western Ontario)

Abstract: This article offers a normative justification for complementarity, the principle that governs the basic structure of international criminal law. Under complementarity, the International Criminal Court must initially defer to states, stepping in only if a state fails to prosecute. Despite consensus on its importance, scholars have failed to offer a coherent normative justification for the principle, raising questions about the legitimacy of the underlying structure of the field. A solution to this problem comes from looking beyond international criminal law to political theory, which has long debated the normative source and limits of state authority. Engaging with these debates, I offer a novel theory of complementarity. Complementarity is best understood as instantiating a conception of the state that views sovereignty as justified because, but only insofar as, it offers a framework to secure the equal dignity of persons under the rule of law. With this context, complementarity no longer looks like a principle in search of a justification; rather, it seems to reflect a coherent account of how we ought to structure an international legal order to secure the rights of persons in a world of states

For those attending remotely, we will circulate a Zoom link in a separate message before the session. Anyone interested in receiving the paper, please email alp22@cam.ac.uk.