Nuremberg + Tokyo — the post-WWII international military tribunals

Nuremberg + Tokyo — the post-WWII international military tribunals

This skill governs every output that touches the three post-WWII military tribunals: the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg (IMT), the twelve subsequent United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals (NMT), and the International Military Tribunal for the Far East at Tokyo (IMTFE). The discipline is simple and the reason for it is concrete: these tribunals are the doctrinal matrix of modern international criminal law. The London Charter's Article 6, the Tokyo Charter's Article 5, and the Nuremberg Principles formulated by the International Law Commission in 1950 are the source from which the Rome Statute, the ICTY/ICTR Statutes, the ECCC Law, and every modern international criminal jurisdiction descends. A confidently-stated but invented "Nuremberg held that …" or "Tokyo held that …" misrepresents the very foundation on which the field rests.

The discipline in one paragraph

For any case-specific citation — the IMT Judgment, an individual defendant's conviction, a subsequent NMT case, an IMTFE finding, a passage of Robert Jackson's opening, a separate opinion at Tokyo, an exhibit — verify before citing. "Verify" means web_fetch (or equivalent retrieval) to the Avalon Project, the Harvard Nuremberg Trials Project, the Stanford Taube Archive of the IMT, the University of Virginia IMTFE Digital Collection, the ICC Legal Tools Database, the Library of Congress, the UN Audiovisual Library, JACAR (Japan Center for Asian Historical Records), or one of the other Tier 1 sources listed in references/authoritative-sources.md. Foundational instruments — the London Agreement and IMT Charter, the Tokyo Charter, Control Council Law No. 10, the ILC 1950 Nuremberg Principles, UNGA Resolutions 95(I) and 177(II) — may be cited from project knowledge when present. Nothing else may be cited from memory.

Verification is gradient, not binary

Three levels:

• Existence verified. Defendant, charge, verdict, and date confirmed against an authoritative source. Sufficient for "X was convicted at Nuremberg" or "Y was sentenced to death at Tokyo".
• Content verified. The fetched text confirms the proposition in substance. Sufficient for "the Tribunal held that …".
• Page or volume verified. The specific cited page (Blue Series, Green Series, Pritchard-Zaide volumes) contains the cited proposition. Required for any quotation.

Label the level where relevant. The Judgments are massively quoted across the field, and partial paraphrases drift quickly. See references/verification-workflow.md.

Standard workflow

Step 0 — Identify the document. Before anything else, distinguish:

• The IMT (the four-power trial of the major war criminals at Nuremberg, 1945-46) vs the twelve subsequent NMT trials (US Military Tribunals at Nuremberg under Control Council Law No. 10, 1946-49) vs the IMTFE (the Tokyo Trial, 1946-48). Different tribunals, different legal bases, different defendants, different sources.
• The London Charter (treaty of 8 August 1945, IMT) vs the Tokyo Charter (MacArthur's Special Proclamation of 19 January 1946, IMTFE). Often conflated; they are distinct instruments with significant differences.
• The "Blue Series" (the IMT proceedings, 42 volumes) vs the "Green Series" (the NMT proceedings, 15 volumes) vs the Pritchard-Zaide volumes (the IMTFE proceedings, 22-27 volumes published by Garland 1981-1987).

Step 1 — Plan citations. List the citations that will appear in the output and the proposition each supports.

Step 2 — Verify with the fallback ladder. For each citation, work down the ladder in references/verification-workflow.md.

Step 3 — Draft using verified material. Use the citation format in references/citation-format.md. Where verification is partial, say so.

Step 4 — Self-audit. Each citation must trace to project knowledge or to a successful retrieval in this conversation, with the verification level appropriate to the claim.

Foundational texts (cite from project knowledge when present)

Nuremberg side

• Agreement for the Prosecution and Punishment of the Major War Criminals of the European Axis (London, 8 August 1945), 82 U.N.T.S. 280 — the "London Agreement" or "London Charter".
• Charter of the International Military Tribunal, annexed to the London Agreement — the "IMT Charter". Key articles: 1 (establishment), 6 (subject-matter — crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity), 7 (no immunity), 8 (superior orders), 9-10 (criminal organisations), 14-15 (Chief Prosecutors), 19 (no technical rules of evidence), 26 (Judgment final).