Events 38 BC – Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey. 1524 – Giovanni da Verrazzano sets sail westward from Madeira to find a sea route to the Pacific Ocean. 1595 – During the French Wars of Religion, Henry IV of France… Read More
Introduction The Peace Palace is an international law administrative building in The Hague, the Netherlands. It houses the International Court of Justice (which is the principal judicial body of the United Nations), the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), The Hague Academy of International Law and the Peace Palace Library. The palace officially opened on 28… Read More
Introduction The Rule of Law in Armed Conflicts Project (RULAC Project) is an initiative of the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights to support the application and implementation of the international law of armed conflict. Overview Through a global database and analysis, the RULAC Project has as its aim an assessment of… Read More
Introduction Joint criminal enterprise (JCE) is a legal doctrine used during war crimes tribunals to allow the prosecution of members of a group for the actions of the group. This doctrine considers each member of an organised group individually responsible for crimes committed by group within the common plan or purpose. It arose through the… Read More
Introduction The War Crimes Act of 1996 is a law that defines a war crime to include a “grave breach of the Geneva Conventions”, specifically noting that “grave breach” should have the meaning defined in any convention (related to the laws of war) to which the US is a party. The definition of “grave breach”… Read More
Introduction Command responsibility (superior responsibility, the Yamashita standard, and the Medina standard) is the legal doctrine of hierarchical accountability for war crimes. The legal doctrine of command responsibility stipulates that a superior officer (military commander or civilian leader) can be held legally responsible for war crimes committed by subordinates. The legal doctrine of command responsibility… Read More
Introduction The Salvadoran Civil War (Spanish: Guerra Civil de El Salvador) was a twelve year period of civil war in El Salvador that was fought between the government of El Salvador and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a coalition or “umbrella organisation” of left-wing groups. A coup on 15 October 1979 followed by… Read More
