Foreword to the third edition

AuthorCharles C Jalloh
ProfessionProfessor of Law, Florida International University, Miami Member, International Law Commission
Pages27-30
xxvii
FOR EWORD
to the Third Edition
It is a delight to have been asked to wr ite a foreword to the third edition
of this importa nt book on international and t ransnational crimin al law.
Of course, at a global level, there are many introductory b ooks focusing
only on international criminal law (ICL), and there are also a handful
of books introducing readers to transnational cr iminal law (TCL). The
beauty of this outsta nding book is that it combines the two f‌ields in a
way that is accessible, yet elegant.
The authors of this book, Rob Currie and Joseph Rik hof, are among
only a few legal scholars who have rightly recogni zed the close rela-
tionship and intersection between ICL and TCL. For our purpose s, ICL
comprises the body of legal r ules and standard s that prohibits certain
types of conduct as criminal under intern ational law, such as geno-
cide and crimes again st humanity, and proposes various methods for
their investigation, prosecution, and puni shment. That system of law,
born out of the ashes of World War II, led to the infamous Nuremberg
Trials and now directly addre sses the criminal liabilit y of perpetrators
through primar y enforcement by states using their national courts.
When states fail to act, because they are unwilling, unable, or both,
international or hybrid cr iminal tr ibunals established for such pur-
poses may step in as pa rt of a secondary system t hat works to provide
a measure of crimi nal justice for the victim s.
TCL can be understood as a body of legal rule s addressing crimes,
usually under domestic law, whose def‌ining characteristic is enact ing
actual or potential transborder effects. Most of these crimes, such as

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