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25 Crim. L.F. 1 (2014)

handle is hein.journals/crimlfm25 and id is 1 raw text is: Criminal Law Forum (2014) 25:1-7 © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014 DOI 10.1007/s10609-014-9220-5 WILLIAM SCHABAS*, CARSTEN STAHN**, JOSEPH POWDERLY***, DAN PLESCH**** and SHANTI SATTLER**** THE UNITED NATIONS WAR CRIMES COMMISSION AND THE ORIGINS OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE I INTRODUCTION Twenty-five years ago, this journal was founded out of a conviction that a new scholarly journal is needed to capture the changes that are transforming the criminal law as we have known it.1 The founders expressed the hope that the Forum will have achieved its purpose if future scholars, looking back through these pages, can trace the emergence of a global community of criminal law scholars working together to respond to their changing world and striving to create a better one.2 This symposium pays tribute to this idea. We are pleased to open this 25th anniversary volume with a special treat for our readers who share an interest in the origins and foundations of international criminal justice. There are many hidden histories in international criminal jus- tice. The record and practice of the United Nations War Crimes Commission (UNWCC) is one of the best kept secrets in the field. The early work of the London International Assembly and the Commission have not received the attention that they deserve in existing treaties and textbooks. Scholarship and historical writings are typically focused on the legacy of the Nuremberg or the Tokyo trials or contemporary courts and tribunals. This symposium pro- * Editor-in-Chief, Criminal Law Forum. ** Executive Editor, Criminal Law Forum. *** Managing Editor, Criminal Law Forum. **** Guest Editor. V. M. Del Buono and P. H. Robinson, 'Foreword' (1989) 1 Criminal Law Forum 1. 2 Ibid.