Law reports of the Australian war crimes trials 1945-1951 : volume 1 Reports of the trials Morotai, Wewak, Labuan and Darwin / edited by Tim McCormack and Narrelle Morris.

Leiden, The Netherlands : Brill Nijhoff, 2024.

1st edition

202412

Australia. -- Australian Army.

War crime trials -- Australia.

War criminals -- Trials, litigation, etc -- Australia.

Military Courts -- Australia.

The Morotai trials: 29 November 1945-15 February 1946

The trials on Morotai

1. Introduction

2. Initial steps

3. The decision against holding Australian trials at Macassar

4. The short-lived court on Ambon

5. Why was the Ambon trial relocated to Morotai?

6. The advantages and disadvantages of Morotai

7. Procedure and length of trials

8. The role of the judge-advocate

9. The criminal compound

10. The carrying out of death sentences

11. Why the trials ended on Morotai

12. Conclusion

Morotai law reports

The Wewak trials: 30 November-12 December 1945

The trials at Wewak

1. Introduction

2. Cannibalism in New Guinea

3. The Aitape-Wewak campaign

4. The conditions facing the Japanese forces in New Guinea by 1944

5. Locating the perpetrator

6. The trial

7. Court members and the perception of bias

8. The second cannibalism case at Wewak

9. Closing down the trials at Wewak

Wewak law reports

The Labuan trials: 3 December 1945-31 January 1946

The trials on Labuan

1. Introduction

2. Borneo, the Japanese and Allied prisoners of war

3. Australian rather than British trials

4. The choice of Labuan as the Australian court location

5. Investigating what had happened in Borneo

6. The role of Sticpewich

7. Personnel at the trials - Allied and Japanese

8. Questions of interpretation and comprehension

9. Details of the atrocities, the press and the trials

10. Life in the Australian compound

11. Visits from notables

12. Withdrawal of the Australian troops from Labuan

13. Conclusion

Labuan law reports

The Darwin trials: 1 March-29 April 1946

The Trials in Darwin

1. Introduction

2. Timor: The site of the crimes

3. Why were the trials not held in Timor?

4. The advantages of Darwin

5. Darwin in 1946: A sensitive choice

6. Public knowledge of atrocities

7. Press coverage of the first Darwin trial

8. The court personnel

9. Public reactions to the sentences

10. Countering the criticism

11. The subsequent trials in Darwin

12. Carrying out the death sentence at Rabaul

13. Prosecuting further crimes committed on timor

14. Conclusion

Darwin law reports

Index of accused

Index of trial personnel

Index of people

General index.

This is the first volume of a new 5-volume reference work which rectifies a lamentable gap in access to rich war crimes trial jurisprudence from the post-World War II era. The 5 volumes will compile a comprehensive and systematic collection of Law Reports of the 300 trials by Australian Military Courts held between 1945 and 1951. Those trials were held in eight locations and reports of the trials are grouped according to location. To introduce each trial location, a contextual essay provides background analysis explaining why the particular trials were conducted in that location. This first volume includes reports for each of the 46 trials conducted in Morotai, Wewak, Labuan and Darwin in 1945-46. Given the lack of written reasons for judgment, these law reports draw extensively on the trial transcripts, including a description of prosecution and defence arguments, relevant legal issues, judgments and sentences. Launched at a propitious time in which Australia is engaged in a significant criminal investigation of alleged war crimes in Afghanistan, the reference work provides a rich and unrivalled resource and will be of lasting value both within Australia and outside it amongst scholars of the history of World War II and the development of international criminal law as well as to practitioners involved in contemporary war crimes trials. Many other Allied nations conducted their own military trials in both the European and Pacific theatres post-WWII, and the Australian experience, documented in these unique volumes, offers an important template for other national initiatives of this kind. - Publisher's website.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

9789004683341

xxiii, 768 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 28 cm