Attempts to try individuals such as Slobodan Milosevic and Saddam Hussein for international crimes and the creation of the International Criminal Court highlight the growing currency and importance of international criminal law as a discipline in its own right. Contemporary importance and academic interest in the subject is rapidly eclipsing that in the more mainstream discipline of human rights. For practitioners, scholars and students of international criminal law (ICL), this unique collection provides access to the core international instruments in one convenient volume.

Containing seventy-nine principal documents on ICL dating from 1919 to 2005, this user-friendly book organizes the documents around generally recognised categories of international crimes, such as war crimes, crimes against humanity and terrorism. It also includes constitutive instruments of the most important international, domestic and hybrid tribunals, including the Statute of the International Criminal Court, its rules of procedure and elements of crimes. Principal international and regional instruments which deal with the facilitation of a truly international system of criminal justice, in the form of extradition and mutual assistance are also included.

Each document has been carefully edited to present information that is directly relevant to international criminal law while all extraneous material has been excluded. Most importantly, each extract has its own introduction which provides the reader with official citations, parties, date of entry into force, an outline of the legislative history, links to related documents and a brief commentary analyzing and contextualizing the principal provisions.