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This is a formidable and well-documented counterblast to a developing modern orthodoxy, expressing a point of view that many readers will not even have suspected existed, let alone read - Anthony Daniels, Spectator. A useful and controversial contribution to the debate about victor's justice, and a valuable warning that international war crimes tribunals need to operate with precision and care - Jonathan Steele, Guardian. In this important, timely and cogently argued book John Laughland lays bare the truth that political trials, by which he means trials of heads of state or government ministers for acts of state...have never been properly constituted nor properly conducted judicial proceedings... Invaluable - Robert Stewart in the Spectator. A stupendous book - Daniel Hannan, Daily Telegraph. Laughland asks some pointed questions that will discomfit even those who disagree with him. Who has the right to adjudicate the acts of another state? What accountability is there for international tribunals? To what extent are they victors' justice? - Adam LeBor, Sunday Telegraph. This richly documented, very readable and strikingly indignant book shows how a well-meant global development of our times has gone off the rails ... How will the community of human rights activists deal with John Laughland's charges? I hope we shall be told - Geoffrey Best, Times Literary Supplement.
Jonathan Steele, Guardian
A useful and controversial contribution to the debate about victor's justice, and a valuable warning that international war crimes tribunals need to operate with precision and care
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you had always thought of the international criminal court as some kind of neutral arbiter of justice, you really should read this book. The author shows compellingly, that more often than not, they are simply winners justice dressed up with some legal robes and gavels to legitimise whatever punishment has been pre-determined. The trial of Milosovic in particular was a disgrace although the problems can be traced back to the trial of Charles the first. Well worth a read regardless of your preconceptions.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Behold! A man who actually thinks his own thoughts. A contradictor who pulls no punches. This book deals with the kangaroo courts which again and again during the course of our history have made a travesty of justice. Mr. Laughland starts off with Charles I versus Cromwell, and finishes his presentation with the heart-rending words of a profoundly stoic Saddam Hussein on the eve of his execution. The most moving chapter of all is the one dealing with Philippe Pétain, who showed a saint-like nobility in defeat. We also read of the Tokyo trials with the defiant verdict of Radhabinod Pal, who found the alleged Japanese war criminals not guilty on all counts. Erich Honecker's memorable performance deserves to be mentioned as well: "The Federal Republic is not a state of law (kein Staat des Rechts) but instead a state of right-wingers (ein Staat der Rechten)." Mr. Laughland demonstrates with admirable precision that the trials of the defeated have nothing at all to do with justice. Rather, it is in shedding the blood of the defeated that the courts and regimes of usurpers and scoundrels, hypocrites and occupiers, gain political legitimacy. Finally, one must laud the truly remarkable impartiality of Mr. Laughland.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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2 reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Audacious and Superb
12 Nov 2008
Format:Paperback
Behold! A man who actually thinks his own thoughts. A contradictor who pulls no punches. This book deals with the kangaroo courts which again and again during the course of our history have made a travesty of justice. Mr. Laughland starts off with Charles I versus Cromwell, and finishes his presentation with the heart-rending words of a profoundly stoic Saddam Hussein on the eve of his execution. The most moving chapter of all is the one dealing with Philippe Pétain, who showed a saint-like nobility in defeat. We also read of the Tokyo trials with the defiant verdict of Radhabinod Pal, who found the alleged Japanese war criminals not guilty on all counts. Erich Honecker's memorable performance deserves to be mentioned as well: "The Federal Republic is not a state of law (kein Staat des Rechts) but instead a state of right-wingers (ein Staat der Rechten)." Mr. Laughland demonstrates with admirable precision that the trials of the defeated have nothing at all to do with justice. Rather, it is in shedding the blood of the defeated that the courts and regimes of usurpers and scoundrels, hypocrites and occupiers, gain political legitimacy. Finally, one must laud the truly remarkable impartiality of Mr. Laughland.
An incisive critique of justice in the political theatre
4 Feb 2012
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
An exceptional work where thought is not confined to the existing parlance of "justice" and human rights. Although emphasizing that many of the heads of state acted "venally, vainly, dishonestly, cruelly, evilly, and often illegally," this does not warrant wreaking havoc on the principles of justice through political-judicial prosecution (such as presumption (or stipulation of guilt) and the fabrication of facts and law to fit the desired end. For those who are especially comfortable with the emerging rose-colored lenses by which international tribunals, "people's courts", and the ascendancy of human rights over law, the thesis of this book will likely be found either an unsatisfying subordination of justice to law, or simply just indigestible. A useful encapsulations (though insufficient) of the broad theme of this text is the quotation from Dicey, "that no man is punishable or can be made to suffer in body or goods except for a distinct breach of law establish in the ordinary legal manner before th ordinary courts of the land."
The treatment of the Nuremberg trials I found especially informative, especially given their near semi-divine eminence in much of contemporary outlook. Many of these trials evoked tragedy; particularly for me, the Trial of the Six, the medical dissection of Vidkun Quisling, the trial of Ioannis Rallis (who imprisoned died shortly), and of Marshal Henri Petain, et. al. (Interestingly, the latter two receive quite unsympathetic treatment in the recently televised series "Nazi Collaborators", which demonstrates that careful reasoning does not make for good TV). The recent trials were particular evocative, as the details of these events are still fresh in memory.
The chapters are concisely written as the text focuses on critical analysis without extensive reproduction of source materials (although this is well covered in a thorough bibliography.) The conclusion was exceptionally powerful and insightful, especially since I was anticipating a simple recapitulation of the principal points of the text. Moreover, the author lays out impeccably the difference between private criminal criminal law and political laws of state, and does not shirk from laying out basic principles for conducting such trials.
A work that will stand with dignity in any library.
The treatment of the Nuremberg trials I found especially informative, especially given their near semi-divine eminence in much of contemporary outlook. Many of these trials evoked tragedy; particularly for me, the Trial of the Six, the medical dissection of Vidkun Quisling, the trial of Ioannis Rallis (who imprisoned died shortly), and of Marshal Henri Petain, et. al. (Interestingly, the latter two receive quite unsympathetic treatment in the recently televised series "Nazi Collaborators", which demonstrates that careful reasoning does not make for good TV). The recent trials were particular evocative, as the details of these events are still fresh in memory.
The chapters are concisely written as the text focuses on critical analysis without extensive reproduction of source materials (although this is well covered in a thorough bibliography.) The conclusion was exceptionally powerful and insightful, especially since I was anticipating a simple recapitulation of the principal points of the text. Moreover, the author lays out impeccably the difference between private criminal criminal law and political laws of state, and does not shirk from laying out basic principles for conducting such trials.
A work that will stand with dignity in any library.
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