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CRIMES AGAINST PEACE IN NUREMBERG
of Hohenzollern for an offence against international morality and the sanctity of
treaties.
10
Due to political reasons, this provision of the treaty was never enforced.
11
On a state level, we may speak further about two important documents: the
Kellogg–Briand Pact
12
of 1928 (“parties condemn recourse to war for the solution
of international controversies”
13
) and the Charter of the United Nations (“parties
refrain from the threat or use of force”
14
). As regards individuals, responsibility for
crimes under international law took roots in the Nuremberg trial.
15
The Charter of
the Nuremberg Tribunal will be subject to the detailed study below.
2. Jurisdiction of the International Military Tribunal
over the Crimes Against Peace
The decision to punish the major war criminals of the European Axis first found
expression in the Moscow Conference dated 30 October 1943. Here, the Governments
of the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union and China jointly
declared that German men and members of the Nazi Party must be held liable for
massacres and executions.
16
On 8 August 1945, pursuant to the Moscow Declaration,
the governments of the USA, France, the UK and the USSR signed an agreement in
London, which established the International Military Tribunal (hereinafter also the
‘IMT’).
17
The Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal or, synonymously, the International
MilitaryTribunal (hereinafter also the ‘Charter’) constituted an annex to this agreement.
History knows a number of trials that took place in Nuremberg in 1945 and
related to the crimes committed by Nazis.
18
The current paper will deal only with
the Trial of the Major War Criminals (hereinafter also the ‘Trial’) and the judgment
given at the end of it (hereinafter also the ‘Judgment’). On the basis of the London
agreement, the Charter and the Judgment the author will illuminate the jurisdiction
ratione temporis, ratione personae,
ratione loci,
and
ratione materiae
of the IMT.
As regards
ratione temporis
of the IMT, the Charter does not set forth any particular
period to be taken into account. We may receive the more detailed information on
the subject from the Judgment given in the Trial. Though the Second World War
10
Versailles Treaty of 28 June 1919.
11
ŠTURMA, Pavel. Význam přijetí Statutu Mezinárodního trestního soudu, cited above, s. 8.
12
Officially titled General Treaty for Renunciation of War as an Instrument of National Policy.
13
Kellogg-Briand Pact, Paris, 27 August 1928.
14
Para. 4, Article 2 of the Charter of the United Nations, San Francisco, 26 June 1945.
15
SCHICK, Franz B. Crimes against Peace, 38 J.
Crim. L. & Criminology 445 (1947–1948), p. 458.
16
Joint Four-Nation Declaration. The Moscow Conference; October 1943. URL:
<http://avalon.law.
yale.edu/wwii/moscow.asp> [cit. 2015-08-10].
17
London Agreement of August 8th 1945. URL:
<http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/imtchart.asp> [cit.
2015-08-10].
18
The Nuremberg trials were a series of 13 trials carried out in Nuremberg between 1945 and 1949. The
defendants included Nazi Party officials, high-ranking military officers, German industrialists, lawyers
and doctors.