Introduction

International law progressively framed major violations committed by individuals as criminal offences. This process started at the beginning of the century with scholarly initiatives and was subsequently institutionalised via the League of Nations. After World War II, individual criminal responsibility was severed from State responsibility, taking a divergent path within the framework of the United Nations (UN). As to individual responsibility, following the input of the International Military Tribunals in Nuremberg and the Far East, in the 1950s the UN International Law Commission produced two draft Statutes for an International Criminal Court. The research is underpinned by the basic distinction between ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ norms, which is a key to both individual and State responsibility. According to Hans Kelsen, ‘primary norms’ are those prohibiting specific conduct, such as the obligation prohibiting aggression. Secondary norms’ outline sanctions applying to violations of primary norms, such as the duty to provide reparation in the case of aggression.