Foreword to the third edition

• Author: Charles C Jalloh
• Profession: Professor of Law, Florida International University, Miami Member, International Law Commission
• Pages: 27-30

xxvii

FOREWORD

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 criminal law (TCL). The

beauty of this outstanding 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 recognized the close rela-

tionship and intersection between ICL and TCL. For our purpose s, ICL

comprises the body of legal rules and standards that prohibits certain

types of conduct as criminal under international law, such as geno-

cide and crimes against humanity, and proposes various methods for

their investigation, prosecution, and punishment. That system of law,

born out of the ashes of World War II, led to the infamous Nuremberg

Trials and now directly addresses the criminal liability of perpetrators

through primary enforcement by states using their national courts.

When states fail to act, because they are unwilling, unable, or both,

international or hybrid criminal tribunals established for such pur-

poses may step in as part of a secondary system that works to provide

a measure of criminal justice for the victims.

TCL can be understood as a body of legal rules addressing crimes,

usually under domestic law, whose def‌ining characteristic is enacting

actual or potential transborder effects. Most of these crimes, such as