How to prove a role of Customary International Criminal Law: Re-imaging a Definition of CIL

Cockburn, Kirsten

How to prove a role of Customary International Criminal Law: Re-imaging a Definition of CIL

Master Thesis

2014-07-30

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Department of Public Law

Faculty

Faculty of Law

Abstract

In Chapter One, I intend to examine the development of CIL and delimit the parameters of the traditional doctrine. In doing so, I hope to highlight the difficulties in its application in the area of international criminal law. In Chapter Two, I will contemplate the modern theories of CIL and illustrate the circular nature of both the modern and traditional doctrines. In Chapter Three, I will re-imagine a definition of CIL that attempts to break this circulatory reasoning. In Chapter Four, I will detail the application of customary international criminal law norms both domestically and internationally. In particular, the jurisprudence of the ad hoc Tribunals serves as an indicator of the possible shortcomings of the definition of CIL and is illustrative of the dangers of defective application of the definition as it currently stands. By way of conclusion, I intend to examine how, under my re-imagined definition of CIL, the international and domestic judiciary should prove a rule of customary international criminal law. In doing so, I hope to illustrate that a workable definition of CIL is a real possibility.

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