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Facts Matter
Cupido, M.
2015
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Cupido, M. (2015). Facts Matter: A Study into the Casuistry of Substantive International Criminal Law. Eleven International Publishers.
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Acknowledgments xiii
Abbreviations xv
Table of Cases xvii
I Prologue: A Plea for a Casuistic Approach to International Criminal
Law 1
1.1 Introduction 3
1.2 Legal Benchmark: Principle of Legality 7
1.2.1 General Conception and Function 7
1.2.2 Scholarly Appraisal 10
1.3 Legal Theory on Judicial Reasoning 12
1.3.1 From Legalism to Dialogue 12
1.3.2 Legal Reasoning and the Open Texture of Rules 15
1.4 How to Manage the Open Texture of Legal Rules? 18
1.4.1 Casuistry: Basic Starting-Points and Methodology 18
1.4.2 Analogical Reasoning from Factors: Basic Starting-Points and
Methodology 22
1.5 Lessons from Domestic Law: A Comparative Look at Judicial Reasoning 25
1.6 Casuistry in International Criminal Law 27
1.6.1 An Unfortunate Blind Spot 27
1.6.2 Filling in the Blanks: Objectives of Current Study 28
1.7 Limitations 30
1.7.1 Deliberate Delineations 30
1.7.2 Inherent Limitations 31
1.8 Outline 32
II The Policy underlying Crimes against Humanity: Practical Reflections
on a Theoretical Debate 35
2.1 Introduction 37
2.2 A Fundamental Disagreement 38
2.3 The ICTY and the Policy Factor 41
2.3.2 Factual Application of the Systematic Attack-Requirement 44
2.3.3 Factual Application of the Policy Factor 46
2.4 The ICC and the Policy Element 48
2.4.1 General Considerations 48
2.4.2 Reservations 51
2.4.3 Factual Application of the Policy Element 52
2.4.4 Evaluation 54
2.5 Judicial Reasoning 57
2.5.1 The Open Texture of Legal Rules 57
2.5.2 The Character and Position of Factual Circumstances 59
2.5.3 Precedents in Factor-Based Reasoning 61
2.5.4 Implications for the Policy Requirement and Debate 63
2.6 Conclusions 64
III Pluralism in Theories of Liability: Joint Criminal Enterprise versus
Joint Perpetration 65
3.1 Introduction 67
3.2 The Debate on JCE and Joint Perpetration 69
3.2.1 Subjective versus Objective Rationale 69
3.2.2 Characterising the Common Plan 72
3.3 JCE and the Common Plan-Element 74
3.3.1 Towards an Objective Common Plan? 74
3.3.2 The Common Plan-Element in Practice 77
3.3.2.1 Nature of Crimes and Context 78
3.3.2.2 Relations between Participants 79
3.3.2.3 Attitude and Informed Contribution of JCE Members 83
3.3.3 Summary 84
3.4 Joint Perpetration and the Common Plan-Element 85
3.4.1 Common Plan: A Contested Concept 85
3.4.2 The Common Plan-Element in Practice 87
3.4.2.1 Preparatory Measures 88
3.4.2.2 Relations between Joint Perpetrators 88
3.4.2.3 Attitude and Informed Contributions of Joint Perpetrators 90
3.4.3 Summary 91
3.5 Implications of the Case Law Analysis 92
3.5.1 The Subjective-Objective Dichotomy in Practice 92
3.5.2 The‘Meeting of Minds’ in Practice 93
3.6 Reconsidering the Nature of JCE and Joint Perpetration 94
3.6.1 Autonomous Criminal Responsibility 94
3.6.2 Normative Interpretation of Co-Perpetration 95
3.6.3 Participation in a Criminal Organisation 96
3.6.4 Evaluation 99
3.7 Conclusions 101
IV The Contextual Embedding of Genocide: A Casuistic Analysis of the
Interplay between Law and Facts 103
4.1 Introduction 105
4.2 Goal-Oriented versus Structure-Based Model 107
4.3 The ad hoc Tribunals and the Contextual Embedding of Genocide 109
4.3.1 General Interpretation 109
4.3.2 Genocidal Intent Applied 111
4.3.3 Interpreting Practice 115
4.3.3.1 Distinguishing Genocide from Other Forms of Mass Violence 115
4.3.3.2 Placing the Indicted Crimes in Context 119
4.3.3.3 Linking the Accused to the Collective Act 120
4.3.4 Interim Conclusion 122
4.4 The ICC and the Contextual Embedding of Genocide 123
4.4.1 General Interpretation 123
4.4.2 Genocide Applied 124
4.4.2.1 Genocidal Intent 124
4.4.2.2 Contextual Element 127
4.4.3 Interim Conclusion 128
4.5 Genocide: A Casuistic Concept 129
4.5.1 Sliding Scale of Contextual Embedding 129
4.5.2 Casuistry and Factors 130
4.5.3 Valuing the Casuistry of Genocide 134
4.6 Conclusions 137
V Epilogue: Developing a Casuistic Framework of Judicial Reasoning 139
5.1 Introduction 141
5.2 Judicial Reasoning in International Criminal Law 142
5.2.1 Basic Starting-Points and Assumptions 142
5.2.2 A Sketch of Judicial Reasoning in International Criminal Law 145
5.2.3 Evaluating International Criminal Law Practice 149
5.3 Domestic Lessons in Reasoning from Precedent 154
5.3.2 Precedents: Rule versus Reason 156
5.3.3 Reasoning from Precedent in AI&L 160
5.4 Lessons Learnt: A New Approach to Judicial Reasoning in International
Criminal Law 164
5.4.1 The Reason-Model in International Criminal Law 164
5.4.2 Is Implementing the Reason-Model Practically Feasible? 168
5.5 Lessons Learnt: A New Approach to Studying International Criminal
Law 170
5.6 Conclusions 173
Summary 175
Facts Matter: A Study into the Casuistry of Substantive International
Criminal Law 177
Samenvatting (Summary in Dutch) 185
Het Belang van Feiten: Een Studie naar de Casuïstiek van het
Materiële Internationaal Strafrecht 187
Bibliography 195
