Book Review: European Federal Criminal Law, the Federal Dimension of the EU Criminal Law
| Date | 01 December 2016 |
| DOI | 10.1177/203228441600700409 |
| Published date | 01 December 2016 |
| Author | Louise Seiler |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
Book Reviews
New Journal of Eu ropean Crimina l Law, Vol. 7, Issue 4, 2016 495
to be an a erthought and not su ciently eshed out. From the introduct ion one
would have expected more focus on thi s issue, so the very short assessment feels li ke a
missed chance. is entire chapter feels too focused on the genera l issue of the manner
in which international criminal law could work wit hin national law, while not
addressing in detail many of the speci c issues which the nationa l prosecution of the
crime of aggression might bring about. As such this chapter comes across as less
focused and not completely in line with t he manner in which the rest of the book has
been laid out.
Overall it must be sa id that the book is a good overview of the cu rrent status of the
crime of aggression and g ives a good historical insight into how the current standa rd
came to be. At times t he book goes into too much depth, especial ly concerning certain
historical ana lyses, while other aspects would have bene tted from more depth. e
ass essme nt of na tiona l and regio nal pr osecu tion o f agg ressi on in p art icula r see ms li ke
an underdeveloped inclusion. While t his part certain ly is a worthy inclusion and very
in-depth in regard to the general notion of national prosecution of international
crimes, there seems to be to o little focus on speci c issues that mig ht arise if aggression
were to be tried before a national or regional c ourt. But these are minor gr ipes because
the title does what it sets out to do well a nd that is to give a detailed oversight of the
concept of the crime of aggression and its development. In doing so the book also
addresses many of the problematic issues of the crime of aggression. Gerhard Kemp
provides a great contextual overview which places the crime of aggression in t he
greater notion of collective security, thus allowing for better u nderstanding of the
reason for the crimina lisation and the reason why the cur rent de nition is formulated
as it is. e author addresses clearly a nd understandably the connection between
individual cr iminal responsibility and the prohibition of t he use of force. In this new
edition the author has expanded a nd updated an already well received book with a
well-reasoned analysis of the resu lts of the Kampala C onference and other recent
developments, ensuring that it remains a n important contribution to the debate and
literature on the crime of a ggression.
Barry de Vries
PhD Candidate
Oxford Brookes University
Carlos Gómez-Jara Diez, European Federal Criminal Law, e Federal Dimension
of the EU Criminal Law, Intersentia 2015, 256 p., ISBN 978–1–78068–120–7
Comparisons are not always od ious. e comparison by Pr Gomez-Jara Diez in his
book is not misleading, even if provocative at rst sight. He dares to use the term
‘federalism’ in t he context of European Union criminal law, where Member States are
very sensitive about protecting their sovereignty. e subtitle of the book is probably
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