CYIL 2014

501

COMPARATIVE LAW STUDY AND ANALYSIS OF NATIONAL LEGISLATION…

Arturo J. Carrillo and Annalise K. Nelson

Comparative Law Study and Analysis of National Legislation relating to

Crimes Against Humanity and Extraterritorial Jurisdiction

[Srovnávací právní studie a analýza vnitrostátních právních předpisů týkajících se

zločinů proti lidskosti a extrateritoriální jurisdikce]

George Washington University Law School, 2013

The title of this article provides for the name of the analysis written by A. J. Carrillo

and A.K. Nelson of the International Human Rights Clinic of the George Washington

University Law School. I have had the opportunity to read this analysis (hereinafter

referred to as “analysis”) and would like to make few comments on it.

The analysis sets a goal of discussing, among other things, issues related to

national jurisdiction over crimes against humanity (hereinafter referred to as “CAH”)

in various legal systems around the world. Hence the analysis focuses on national

legislation, provides for many interesting quantitative results and also discusses the

qualities of examples of national legislation related to jurisdiction over CAH. These

goals are, without any doubt, interesting. Other aspects are discussed as well, such

as universal jurisdiction over crimes against humanity, and the analysis spent a large

amount of space on this; since it is not an instrument that would be uniformly

interpreted and accepted, the practice of States regarding this issue presents a useful

guide not only for those dealing with such issues in their work and studies.

The executive summary at the very beginning of the analysis presents a brief

summary of the whole study and provides the reader with some useful data. Such an

introduction is both very interesting and helpful, though some of the explanations

of chosen criteria may be slightly hard to understand for a reader from a non-English

speaking country. However this is not a critique of the analysis; it is rather a self

criticism of author of this review.

Qualities of the project are precisely presented questions to be answered (they

are to be found in the introduction) and successfully elaborated analysis on following

pages, among other things. Though not extensive in length (the analysis consists

of 30 pages), the analysis is amended with annexes A to M that provide detailed

information related to the questions laid down by the text itself. However, a survey

of such a scale is obviously not without troubles, such as finding relevant domestic

legislation in all discussed States. The authors must have faced these troubles as well,

and so it is again an example of the quality of their work that, in confirming their

A. J. Carrillo and A. K. Nelson,

Comparative Law Study and Analysis of National Legislation relating

to Crimes Against Humanity and Extraterritorial Jurisdiction

, International Human Rights Clinic, The

George Washington University Law School, accessed at

clinics/IHRC/Documents/CAH_Final_Web.pdf.