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Criminal Law Forum (2011) 22:493509 Springer 2011
DOI 10.1007/s10609-011-9154-0
WILLIAM A. SCHABAS*
THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT AT TEN
I INTRODUCTION
The date of Otto Triterers birthday does not seem to be a matter about which there can be much debate. It is surely a fact of common knowledge within the meaning of the Rome Statute.1 These are facts so notorious, or clearly established or susceptible to determination by reference to readily obtainable and authoritative sources that evidence of their existence is unnecessary.2 But when is the birthday of the International Criminal Court? The institution itself now celebrates 17 July, and it is apparently a much appreciated paid holiday for employees at the Court, who take advantage of the day o to soak up the sun at Scheveningen beach. But the Court wasnt really born on 17 July, which is the day the Rome Conference concluded in 1998 with the famous vote by which the Statute was adopted.
* OC MRIA, Professor of International Law, Middlesex University; Professor of human rights law, National University of Ireland Galway; Editor-in-Chief, Criminal Law Forum. Portions of this article have already appeared in A. Cassese (ed.), Towards a Realistic Utopia (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012).
1 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, (2002) 2187 UNTS 90, Article 69(6) [hereinafter Rome Statute].
2 Prosecutor v. Semanza (Decision on the Prosecutors Motion for Judicial Notice and Presumptions of Fact Pursuant to Rules 94 and 54) ICTR-97-20, (3 November 2000) para. 25. Also: Prosecutor v. Peresic (Decision on Prosecutions Motion for Adjudicated Facts Concerning Sarajevo) IT-94-81-PT (26 June 2008), paras. 1317; Prosecutor v. Norman et al. (Decision on Prosecutions Motion for Judicial Notice and Admission of Evidence) SCSL-04-14-PT (24 June 2004); Prosecutor v. Sesay et al. (Decision on Prosecutions Motion for Judicial Notice and Admission of Evidence) SCSL-04-15-PT (24 June 2004).
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WILLIAM. A. SCHABAS
The Rome Statute requires 60 ratications for entry into force,3 and this was only achieved on 17 April 2002. But Article 126 says that entry into force takes place about 2 months after the requisite ratications, so the magic date might be 1 July 2002. It is an important date in any event, because it marks the starting point of the Courts temporal jurisdiction.4 But the Court...