Paper's abstract

Mireille Delmas-Marty, Chances and risks of a criminal international justice
Criminal law is one of the brightest symbols of national sovereignty. The privileged field of relativism, it is the most difficult to “universalize” of any system of law. But criminal law is now on the front lines of universalism with the legal definition of crimes “against humanity" and the establishment of a permanent International Criminal Court. Can one deduce common values from this “penal paradox”? If law imposes its vision of humanity, there is a risk of slipping from the “founding” taboo to a legal “fundamentalism”. To avoid turning inter-national criminal law into a new dogma, the way to a universal that is pluralist enough to be both effective and legitimate must be found.

Key Words : Global community – crime against humanity – criminal Law – ethics – fundamentalism – International Criminal Court – pluralism
t. 53, 2010 : p. 96-117

---