Jump to Content Jump to Main Navigation
Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law [MPEiPro]

Universal Jurisdiction

Anne Lagerwall, Marie-Laurence Hébert-Dolbec

Content type:
Encyclopedia entries
Product:
Max Planck Encyclopedias of International Law [MPIL]

Module:
Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law [MPEiPro]
Article last updated:
July 2022

From: Oxford Public International Law (http://opil.ouplaw.com). (c) Oxford University Press, 2023. All Rights Reserved.date: 08 October 2024

Subject(s):
Crimes against humanity — Genocide — Human trafficking — Piracy — War crimes — Jurisdiction of states, adjudicative — Jurisdiction of states, universality principle

Published under the direction of Hélène Ruiz Fabri, with the support of the Department of International Law and Dispute Resolution, under the auspices of the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for Procedural Law.

1 Universal jurisdiction can be defined as the competence of a State to prosecute and punish the alleged perpetrators of certain offences, regardless of their location or the nationality of the perpetrators or victims. In other words, it is exerted over crimes or offenders presenting no connection to the State assuming jurisdiction. Its desirability or necessity have been asserted in relation to a limited set of offences, either because they are transnational—as in the case of terrorism or illicit traffic of narcotics—or because these offences threaten the shared...
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content. Please subscribe, or log in via the Sign in panel on the left of this screen to access all subscribed content.