Conceptions of Courts and Their Jurisdiction

In the summer of 1998, 160 States met in Rome to negotiate the drafting of what would become the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. After a month long of arduous horse-trading 120 States decided to adopt the Rome Statute. Pursuant to the Rome Statute, as adopted on 17 July 1998, the ICC has jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression. Except for the crime of aggression,¹ the ICC was endowed to exercise jurisdiction over these crimes through three distinct channels: (1) State referral; (2) the prosecutor initiating an investigation proprio motu; and, (3) the