Právněhistorické studie / Legal History Studies (Charles University journal; below referred to as PHS or Journal) is a scientific journal listed in the international prestigious database SCOPUS. The journal is published by Charles University in Prague under the guarantee of the Department of Legal History of the Faculty of Law of Charles University. It is published by the Karolinum Press. The journal focuses on the field of legal history and related topics.
Issue 1 of the Journal was published by the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences Publishing in June 1955. The Journal was initially published by the Cabinet of Legal History of the Czechoslovak Academy of Science (CSAV), later by the Institute of State and Law (CSAV) and then by the Institute of Legal History of the Faculty of Law of Charles University.
PHS is issued three times a year in April, August, and December and it presents original scientific works/papers as well as reviews, annotations and news from the scientific field of legal history. It also introduces annotated texts of a legal history nature. PHS accepts manuscripts from domestic as well as foreign authors. Manuscripts submitted by foreign authors are published in original language, namely in English, Slovak, German, French, Italian or Polish.
PHS (ISSN 0079-4929) is registered in the Czech national ISSN centre (supervised by the State Technical Library). The Journal is registered by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic according to Act No. 46/2000 Sb., on Rights and Liabilities for the Publishing of Periodicals and Change of Some Acts (Press Act), and it is allocated with registration number of periodical press MK E 18813.
PHS is an open journal and ensures open access to scientific data (Open Access). The entire content is released as open to the public on the web pages of the journal.
The journal is archived in Portico.
PRÁVNĚHISTORICKÉ STUDIE, Vol 55 No 1 (2025), 113–132
Britské vojenské procesy v pacifické oblasti po II. světové válce
[British Military Trials in the Pacific After World War II]
Jan Beránek
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14712/2464689X.2025.7
published online: 25. 04. 2025
abstract
The presented article analyses the British post-war procedural policy that was applied against persons suspected of crimes under international law in the Pacific region. The first part of the essay deals with the general characteristics of this programme, the procedural rules applied, as well as statistical data on the number of persons charged and convicted and the sentences imposed. The next parts of the article deal with the British procedure in specific trials that have been chosen as a demonstrative sample. In particular, those trials involving senior army and navy officers and persons who had no immediate and direct connection with the armed forces were analysed in depth. An examination of both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the British trial programme in the Pacific allows the programme to be placed in the overall context of post-war trials that took place within the exclusive jurisdiction of a victorious state. A specific feature of the programme under examination is the fact that its procedural basis was a royal warrant of king George VI, which was followed also in proceedings that took place in the British zone of occupation in divided Germany. The issue under study thus offers a unique opportunity to compare the British approach to the question of punishing war criminals in Europe and in the Pacific.
keywords: war crimes; British Military justice; Pacific trials; World War II
references (25)
1. AUTOR NEZNÁMÝ. Kutron taken to Kempei HQ. The Straits Times. 5. únor 1947. Dostupné také z: https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/page/straitstimes19470205-1.1.1
2. AUTOR NEZNÁMÝ. No Escape for Bestial Jap War Criminals. The Canberra Times, 1945, roč. 20, č. 5758, s. 1. Dostupné také z: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2644444
3. AUTOR NEZNÁMÝ. How were the Japanese war crimes tried? China Daily [online], 2015, [cit. 2023-05-01]. Dostupné z: https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2015victoryanniv/2015-11/19/content_22485681.htm
4. Before the Military Commission convened by the Commanding General, United States Army Forces, Western Pacific. United States of America vs. Tomoyuki Yamashita [Proceedings], Volume 1. 1945, 198 s. Dostupné také z: https://www.loc.gov/item/68050464/
5. BORCH, F. L. The "Malmedy Massacre" Trial: The Military Government Court Proceedings and the Controversial Legal Aftermath. The Army Lawyer, 2012, roč. 42, č. 3, s. 22-27. Dostupné z: https://www.loc.gov/item/2021692632/
6. DAVIDSON, E. Trial of the Germans: An Account of the twenty-two defendants before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1997.
7. HAYASHI, H. British War Crimes Trials of Japanese [online], 2002, [cit. 2023-05-01]. Dostupné z: http://hayashihirofumi.g1.xrea.com/eng08.htm
8. HOBZA, A. Dokumenty ke studiu mezinárodního práva. Praha: Typus, 1931. Dostupné také z: https://www.cervenykriz.eu/files/files/cz/mhp_knihovna/Haague_valka_pozemni.pdf;
9. HORVITZ, L. A. - CATHERWOOD, CH. Encyclopedia of War Crimes and Genocide. New York: Facts on File, 2006.
10. CHEAH, W. L. - VORMBAUM, M. British War Crimes Trials in Europe and Asia, 1945-1949. Leiden Journal of International Law, 2018, roč. 31, č. 3, s. 669-692. CrossRef
11. CHENG, Z. A History of War Crimes Trials in Post 1945 Asia-Pacific. Singapur: Palgrave Macmillan a Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press, 2019. CrossRef
12. JIA, B. B. The Plea of Superior Orders in the Hong Kong Trials. In: LINTON, S. (ed.). Hong Kong's War Crimes Trials. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013, s. 168-198. CrossRef
13. LINTON, S. War Crimes. In: LINTON, S. (ed.). Hong Kong's War Crimes Trials. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013, s. 95-135. CrossRef
14. MAOGOTO, J. N. Reading the Shadows of History: The Turkish and Ethiopian 'Internationalized' Domestic Crime Trials. In: HELLER, K. J. - SIMPSON, G. (eds.). The Hidden Histories of War Crimes Trials. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013, s. 289-305. CrossRef
15. PAMPEL, B. - WELM, V. Die Russische Rehabilitierung deutscher Opfer sowjetischer politischer Repressionen seit 1992. H und G [online]. 2021 [cit. 2024-02-07]. Dostupné z: http://h-und-g.info/forum/schwerpunkt-5/21-russland/pampl
16. PENDARIES, Y. Les Procès de Rastatt (1946-1954): Les jugement des crimes de guerre en zone française d'occupation en Allemagne. Bern: Peter Lang, 1995.
17. REMY, S. P. The Malmedy Massacre: The War Crimes Trial Controversy. Cambridge (Massachusetts): Harvard University Press, 2017. CrossRef
18. STOCKWIN, A. - TAMURA, K. (eds.). Bridging Australia and Japan: The Writings of David Sissons, historian and political scientist, volume II. Acton: Australian National University Press, 2020.
19. STRAIGHT, C. E. Závěrečná zpráva zástupce vrchního vojenského prokurátora v Evropě pro válečné zločiny; červen 1944 - srpen 1948, 1948, 249 s. Dostupné také z: https://maint.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/pdf/report-deputy-JA-war-crimes.pdf
20. STRAUS, U. A. The Anguish of Surrender: Japanese POWs of World War II. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2003.
21. STURMA, M. Hellships Down: Allied POWs and the Sinking of Rakuyo Maru and Kachidoki Maru. Jefferson:McFarland & Company, 2021.
22. TOTANI, Y. Justice in Asia and the Pacific Region, 1945-1952: Allied War Crimes Prosecutions. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015. CrossRef
23. UNITED STATES STRATEGIC BOMBING SURVEY (ed.). Interrogations of Japanese Officials, vol. II. Washington D.C: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946. Dostupné také z: https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/i/interrogations-japanese-officials-voli.html;
24. WAR CRIMES DOCUMENTATION INITIATIVE. Introduction to War Crimes Documentation. University of Hawai'i [online], 2022, [cit. 2023-05-01]. Dostupné z: https://manoa.hawaii.edu/wcdi/trial-records/
25. WHITEMAN, M. M. (ed.). Digest of International Law, vol. 11. Washington D.C.: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1968.
Britské vojenské procesy v pacifické oblasti po II. světové válce is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
240 x 170 mm
periodicity: 3 x per year
print price: 250 czk
ISSN: 0079-4929
E-ISSN: 2464-689X
