The Crime of Aggression before the House of Lords: Chronicle of a Death Foretold

In the days preceding the invasion of Iraq by the Coalitionforces, groups of individuals committed acts of civil disobediencein British military bases to hinder what they thought were unlawfulpreparations for an aggressive war. In R v. Jones et al., theHouse of Lords examined the question of whether individualscan rely upon the alleged prevention of crimes against peaceto justify otherwise unlawful actions under English law. TheLords ruled that the crime of aggression is a crime under customaryinternational law, yet not under English law. This followedfrom the principle that customary crimes cannot be incorporatedinto the English legal system without statutory enactment. Asa result, the appellants could not invoke the ‘Nurembergdefence’ to elude responsibility incurred under domesticlegislation.