The course looks at the history of and background to international criminal law and at its substantive content—its origins in the early Twentieth Century, its purported objectives, and the core crimes set out in the Rome Statute (war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and aggression). The course will then examine in more detail a number of areas of contemporary development (universal jurisdiction, immunity, torture). The course is mainly directed at the conceptual problems associated with the prosecution of war criminals and, more broadly, legalised retribution.