Vespasian V. Pella: International Criminal Justice As A Safeguard Of Peace, 1919-1952
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First author draft
Date
2020-09-01
Authors
Mamolea, Andrei
Version
First author draft
OA Version
Citation
A. Mamolea. 2020. "Vespasian V. Pella: International Criminal Justice As A Safeguard Of Peace, 1919-1952." pp. 49 - 92. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108769105
Abstract
Vespasian V. Pella was an early twentieth century Romanian jurist who conceived and championed a system of international criminal justice that was designed to prevent war, punish atrocity, and vindicate humanity’s political and economic rights. He argued that governments had a duty to prevent economic dislocation as well as criminal acts capable of undermining international order. To construct these safeguards, Pella promoted the unification of domestic criminal law and the incorporation of international norms into domestic law. He also argued that an assembly of nations and an international criminal tribunal should play a subsidiary role by resolving disputes, imposing sanctions, and punishing aggression and violations of the laws of war. According to Pella, these institutions were necessary safeguards against the root cause of aggressive war—a small, disciplined, and ideologically rigid cadre of men who threatened to use the power of the state to manipulate the public into war. In this chapter we will excavate the ideas, people, and events that shaped Pella’s politics—the influence of his parents, the role of republican, pacifist, and socialist ideals, his desire to understand the psychological reactions of individuals and crowds, as well his response to the atrocities of the First World War. It was these atrocities that ultimately led Pella to dedicate his life to advancing what he called the “international criminal law of the future.” He did so through his scholarship, his diplomacy, and above all, through his advocacy in the organizations such as the Association International de Droit Pénale and the Bureau International pour l’Unification du Droit Pénal. In a relatively short period, Pella forged a professional consensus on previously controversial questions such as universal jurisdiction and corporate criminal liability. Yet though his ideas made great strides within the legal profession, the political support necessary to bring his system to life never materialized, either before or after the Second World War. We will examine the obstacles that Pella encountered and the underlying values of his project. Finally, the chapter challenges and overturns the many misconceptions about Pella that have proliferated in recent years and calls for further research into his life and work.
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This preprint is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 license.