The International Criminal Court:

The Rome Statue of the International Criminal Court represents a compromise between states with widely different agendas. Not all states at the Rome Conference were positive towards the idea of an effective International Court.

This book examines three issues of relevance to the balance of competence between the court and states: The necessity of state consent to the court's jurisdiction, the complementarity of international and national justice systems, and the obligation of states parties to fully cooperate with the court.

Ad hoc international tribunals such as the tribunals of Nuremberg, Tokyo, the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda are well known. However, the establishment of the permanent International Criminal Court is a milestone in the history of the international legal system.