The Documentation of Historical Facts in Trial Judgments of the International Criminal Court

In view of the Eichmann trial, Hannah Arendt fundamentally opposed the idea that history should have a place in a courtroom. Yet, legal practice shows that law and particularly international criminal courts and tribunals cannot and do not escape history. This book enters the discussion of law and history regarding the International Criminal Court (ICC), addressing the question of whether, and if so how, the ICC is authorised to document historical facts in its trial judgments. In taking Hannah Arendt’s concerns seriously, this book embarks on a journey that discovers authoritative principles in the legal framework of the ICC to decide upon its normative research question. On this basis, it explores the justification of the foundational burden inevitably imposed by the ICC subjecting an individual to an international criminal trial. As such, this book develops a constitutional theory of international criminal proceedings at the ICC that points far beyond the documentation of historical facts.