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dc.contributor.authorVaale, Lars-Erik
dc.contributor.authorBorge, Baard Herman
dc.date.accessioned2022-03-23T10:13:44Z
dc.date.available2022-03-23T10:13:44Z
dc.date.issued2022-01-06
dc.description.abstractThis article examines the preparation of the much-debated War Criminals Decree (WCD) of 4 May 1945 by the Norwegian exile government in London and the courts’ later use of the law as the legal foundation for the reckoning with German war criminals. More specifically, we show how two central clauses in the Norwegian Constitution of 1814 were challenged by this decree, which combined national and international law in a hitherto unknown manner, and its use: The principle of legality (§ 96) and the prohibition of retroactivity (§ 97). Our article, based on unpublished documents from the Justice Department’s (JD) archives, argues that the government’s view 1942–1945 changed from defending these clauses to undermining them, by lowering the judicial bar for the passing of death sentences. It is, however, also argued that the courts, even if they did not challenge the WCD legally, nevertheless through their conscientious treatment of war crimes cases 1945–1949 drastically reduced the law’s intended harshening effect on sentences and thus also the significance of its controversial constitutional aspects.en_US
dc.identifier.citationVaale, Borge. Caught between International Law and National Constitution: The Legal Reckoning with Foreign War Criminals in Norway after 1945.. Max Planck Institute for Legal History & Legal Theory Research Paper Series. 2022(2022-1):1-31en_US
dc.identifier.cristinIDFRIDAID 1976251
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4001540
dc.identifier.issn2699-0903
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10037/24508
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherElsevieren_US
dc.relation.journalMax Planck Institute for Legal History & Legal Theory Research Paper Series
dc.rights.accessRightsopenAccessen_US
dc.rights.holderCopyright 2022 The Author(s)en_US
dc.subjectVDP::Samfunnsvitenskap: 200::Rettsvitenskap: 340en_US
dc.subjectVDP::Social sciences: 200::Law: 340en_US
dc.subjectAndre verdenskrig i Norge / World War II in Norwayen_US
dc.subjectGrunnlovsrett / Constitutional lawen_US
dc.subjectOvergangsrettferdighet / Transitional justiceen_US
dc.titleCaught between International Law and National Constitution: The Legal Reckoning with Foreign War Criminals in Norway after 1945.en_US
dc.type.versionpublishedVersionen_US
dc.typeJournal articleen_US
dc.typeTidsskriftartikkelen_US
dc.typePeer revieweden_US


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