Gillian MacNeil – författare

As international society has globalized, so too has crime. Both countries and the collective international community have struggled to deal with criminal activity that has global proportions and effects – from international crimes like genocide and war crimes to transnational crimes like terrorism and trafficking. The systems of law designed to suppress these crimes are complex and often poorly understood; thus, this book brings together a concise and lucid explication and analysis of international and transnational criminal law.A collaboration between leading legal scholars Robert J. Currie, Gillian MacNeil, and Justin J. Mohammed, this book is designed to help those who work in criminal law and international law respectively speak the legal language of the other, and to provide accessible explanations of the legal tools and doctrines. It highlights the work of international courts, the use of treaties, and the investigational techniques that operate in this area, but its focus on Canada makes it an invaluable resource for Canadian lawyers, judges, researchers, students and law enforcement personnel. This updated and revised 4th edition builds on the success of earlier editions, which have been cited by the Supreme Court of Canada and other Canadian courts, in providing up-to-date accounts of international developments, Canadian case law and practice, and relevant literature.

This book examines the way international criminal courts and tribunals have interpreted the crimes against humanity proscription of other inhumane acts. This clause is consistently used in spite of the long list of more specific offences forbidden as crimes against humanity. The volume proposes that the current approach is based on a misunderstanding of the nature of the clause. Properly understood, the clause is an invitation to courts to create and apply retroactive criminal laws. This leads to a problem. A prohibition on the use of retroactive criminal laws, one which admits no exceptions, is deeply embedded in international law. The author argues that it is time to revisit the assumption that retroactive criminal laws can never be deployed in a fair legal system. Drawing lessons from an exploration on the way the prohibition on retroactive laws is applied in practice, she proposes a new framework for understanding the clause proscribing the commission of other inhumane acts. This book will be of relevance to anyone interested in international criminal law or criminal law theory.Gillian MacNeil is Assistant Professor at Robson Hall, the Faculty of Law of the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada.

This book examines the way international criminal courts and tribunals have interpreted the crimes against humanity proscription of other inhumane acts. This clause is consistently used in spite of the long list of more specific offences forbidden as crimes against humanity. 

The volume proposes that the current approach is based on a misunderstanding of the nature of the clause. Properly understood, the clause is an invitation to courts to create and apply retroactive criminal laws. This leads to a problem. A prohibition on the use of retroactive criminal laws, one which admits no exceptions, is deeply embedded in international law. 

The author argues that it is time to revisit the assumption that retroactive criminal laws can never be deployed in a fair legal system. Drawing lessons from an exploration on the way the prohibition on retroactive laws is applied in practice, she proposes a new framework for understanding the clause proscribing the commission of other inhumane acts. 

This book will be of relevance to anyone interested in international criminal law or criminal law theory.

Gillian MacNeil is Assistant Professor at Robson Hall, the Faculty of Law of the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada.