The ‘Grotian Style’ in International Criminal Justice

This article envisages how one might conceptualize the ‘Grotian Style’ in international criminal justice as a practice of adaptation spearheaded by international judges rather than as actual changes occurring in the international system. It foregrounds the emblematic career of Antonio Cassese at the ICTY as epitomizing the trajectory of a scholar on the bench intent on seizing a historic opportunity to reframe the law. The contours, origins, and prospects but also limitations of the ‘Grotian style’ are then discussed. The problem with the Grotian style is not primarily that it runs roughshod over defense rights, but that it appropriates a law-making authority which, in the international system, is better understood as primarily vested in states. In the process, it risks exposing its hubris and shallowness, especially when deciding on normatively intractable issues. In a context where international criminal justice is increasingly being normalized, the time may have come to reconceptualize judges’ role along more global constitutional lines as rooted in an ongoing dialogue with the international community of states and an emerging separation of powers.