Introduction: What Are the Premises Inherent in International Criminal Procedure?

This introduction explains why we need to understand the special characteristics of international criminal procedure and how this book attempts to understand them. Previous studies have provided insufficient explanation of how they differ from domestic legal principles and why they differ, and what premises of international criminal procedure give rise to such differences. Can we provide any unified account for the differences between the procedure of the ICC and of any States? This boils down to the question: what are the premises inherent in international criminal procedure? To find an answer, this book applies the Premise Theory of general principles of law and reviews the premises that have been proposed by previous research that adopted a mainly teleological or theoretical approach. This book is structured in the chronological order of the proceedings, examining the premises of the principles underlying the various issues that arise in the investigation, prosecution, and trial proceedings at the ICC.