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INTRODUCTION
As dawn broke over the Nuremberg courthouse on November 21, 1945, the world little knew the significance of what was to occur that day. For it was on that day in Nuremberg that Justice Robert H. Jackson, speaking for the prosecution, would launch the first international trial of major war criminals in human history. For thousands of years up until that date, those who committed war crimes of the nature described at Nuremberg had largely gone unpunished. Now, at Nuremberg, civilization was coming to grips with the need to punish those who committed these crimes. As Jackson said in his ever-memorable opening address, "the real complaining party in this trial is civilization."1 The method used at Nuremberg, a fair trial, was unparalleled in human history and unique in its approach. And, as Jackson correctly stated, the trial represented the most significant tribute that power had ever paid to reason. Jackson saw universality as the key to be followed in the proceedings. Indeed, he specifically said, "to pass these defendants a poisoned chalice is to put it to our own lips as well."2
What Jackson sought at Nuremberg was individual accountability, both high and low. For the first time in history, he aimed to bring top officials to the bar of justice to answer for their crimes. He saw, and wanted to correct, the ultimate anachronism, whereby domestic defendants are severely punished for murders and top officials of nation states who commit crimes of the same nature on a massive scale go unpunished. In addition, Jackson wanted to eliminate superior orders as a defense for international crimes such as those that were the basis for the prosecution at Nuremberg.
Suffice it to say that Jackson's words that November day will never be forgotten by those who heard them. They matched in eloquence the importance of the occasion. I believe that they will live forever in human history because they express the hopes of all of us, of all of mankind, for a better world, where we can live together under a rule of law characterized by peace with justice.
The winds of change blew fiercely that fateful day at the courtroom in Nuremberg, and the effects of that change continue to radiate today as we...