Volume I, s.4 General Principles of International Criminal Law, 24 Defences, Ch.24.4 Other Grounds for Excluding Criminal Responsibility
Kai Ambos
From: The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
Edited By: Professor Antonio Cassese, Professor Paola Gaeta, Mr John R.W.D. Jones
Article 31 recognizes four substantive grounds for excluding criminal responsibility: mental disease or defect, intoxication, self-defence, and duress/necessity. For the purpose of this paper, mental disease or defect and intoxication will be discussed jointly. The paper focuses primarily on duress/necessity, since these defences are most important from a practical point of view. They are treated together since Article 31(1) (d)—although referring exclusively to ‘duress’—offers a kind of mixed solution containing elements of both defences.Customary law within the...
