Adolf Eichmann is convicted for his role in the ‘Final Solution’ Jerusalem 1961

Prior to 1945, the principle of state sovereignty trumped all else in international law. It was not until the Nuremberg Trials that the paradigm of state immunity and individual accountability began to shift in a meaningful way. The Nuremberg judgments set forth the concept of universal jurisdiction for certain violations of international criminal law. For years after the Nazi trials, however, the principle of universal jurisdiction was overshadowed by the Cold War. But in 1961, the case of Attorney General of Israel v. Eichmann brought universal jurisdiction back to the international stage in dramatic fashion. —Read the article by Mark S. Ellis.

Image: Adolf Eichmann at trial. AP Photo.