A Tribute to Reason: An Appraisal of the 1860 Beirut Tribunal and Commission in light of the 1945 Nuremberg Tribunal

Sammanfattning: The Nuremberg International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg IMT), created in 1945, has been put forward by international legal scholars as the first international criminal tribunal, and the starting point of international criminal justice. However, throughout history, there have been other initiatives to try individuals for mass atrocities on the international level, comparable to the Nuremberg IMT to varying degrees. One such example is the Extraordinary Tribunal for Beirut (ETB) and the International Commission of Inquiry (ICoI), a dual institution created in 1860 in Mount Lebanon after the civil war to try and punish individuals for atrocities committed during the conflict. This thesis conducts an in-depth study and comparison of the Nuremberg IMT and the ETB and ICoI, to examine whether both the Nuremberg IMT and the ETB and ICoI fit within the concepts of international criminal justice and the international criminal tribunal, in order to see whether the ETB and ICoI should be considered the first international criminal tribunal and the actual starting point of international criminal justice. Guided by the concepts of international criminal justice and the international criminal tribunal, this study engages in a comparison of the key actors, events and documents which led to the creation of the Nuremberg IMT and the ETB and ICoI, as well as their institutional features, their organisation, operation, laws and procedures. This study concludes that both the Nuremberg IMT and the ETB and ICoI are very similar in nature, both fit within the definition of an international criminal tribunal, and both institutions aimed to pursue the goal of international criminal justice. However, the fit is not perfect, even within the broadest definition of the concepts used. Nevertheless, this thesis argues that when examining historical tribunals, the fit does not need to be perfect and the use of very basic concepts with a limited set of criteria allows for a flexible and broad framework of examination. While the ETB and ICoI could now, on the basis of this study, be considered the first international criminal tribunal and the starting point of international criminal justice, it is to be hoped that the adoption of a similar framework by other scholars will mean that the ETB and ICoI will not be considered the starting point of international criminal justice for long.