Aims

Caution!
There is a quota for this course. Consult the specific terms and conditions for registration on this faculty web page.

Learning goals

To know
• The historical background to, the evolution of and the stakeholders and stakes in international criminal law.
• The sources of international criminal law and procedure.
• The basic concepts and actors.
• The fundamental principles underpinning and restraining the system.
• The three core crimes and the three less prominent ones.
• The rules on individual criminal liability and exclusion of liability.
•The basic rules on jurisdiction and immunities and the underlying logic.
•The different ways in which international crime is prosecuted and punished.

Ability
• To assess how the variety of sources affects the formation and practice of ICL.
• To apply general abstract rules to specific cases.
• To look at the same facts from the perspective of different parties or stakeholders.
• To connect notions, rules and exceptions to their specific sources and their sphere of application.
• Critically to analyse choices of criminal policy.
• Critically to assess the quality of legal texts and judicial decisions.

Attitude
• Eye for the peculiar legal and political context in which international criminal law is created and applied.
• Eye for the specificities of international criminal law when compared to national law.
• Willingness to scrutinise merits and weaknesses of policy choices, legal instruments and practices.

Is included in these courses of study

• Master in de rechten (Leuven) (Afstudeerrichting rechten) 120 ects.
• Master of Law (double degree with Zurich) (Leuven et al) 120 ects.
• Master of Laws (LL.M) (Leuven) 60 ects.
• Courses for Exchange Students Faculty of Law and Criminology (Leuven)