In the past twenty years, international criminal law has become one of the main areas of international legal scholarship and practice. Most textbooks in the field describe the evolution of international criminal tribunals, the elements of the core international crimes, the applicable modes of liability and defences, and the role of states in prosecuting international crimes. The Oxford Handbook of International Criminal Law, however, takes a theoretically informed and refreshingly critical look at the most controversial issues in international criminal law, challenging prevailing practices, orthodoxies, and received wisdoms. Some of the contributions to the Handbook come from scholars within the field, but many come from outside of international criminal law, or indeed from outside law itself. The chapters are grounded in history, geography, philosophy, and international relations. The result is a Handbook that expands the discipline and should fundamentally alter how international criminal law is understood.

This book continues the series Select Proceedings of the European Society of International Law, containing the proceedings of the Fourth Biennial Conference organised by ESIL and the University of Cambridge in 2010. The title of the conference was 'International Law 1989-2010: A Performance Appraisal'. The highlights, selected for publication in this volume, cover a wide spectrum of topics in international law.