Question

As per Article 11 of the Rome Statute of ICC, Jurisdiction ratione temporis means ____________.

• A. Court may exercise jurisdiction with respect to crimes committed retrospectively before the entry into force of this Statute
• B. Court may exercise jurisdiction if the state agrees under a bilateral treaty
• C. Court may exercise jurisdiction for the crimes committed after the entry into force of this Statute
• D. Court may exercise jurisdiction if the state agrees under a multilateral treaty

Hint:

Ratione temporis = Jurisdiction based on time. For the ICC, this means NO retrospective action. It can only deal with crimes committed after the law was in place.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Step 1: Understand the terminology.
\textit{Ratione temporis} is a Latin term meaning "by reason of time.
" It refers to the temporal (time-related) jurisdiction of a court.

Step 2: Analyze Article 11 of the Rome Statute.
The Rome Statute established the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Article 11 specifically deals with its temporal jurisdiction.
It explicitly states that the Court has jurisdiction only with respect to crimes committed after the entry into force of the Statute.

Step 3: Conclude the meaning.
This means the ICC's jurisdiction is not retrospective.
It cannot prosecute crimes that were committed before the Statute became legally binding for a particular state.
The core principle is that the court may only exercise jurisdiction for crimes committed after the entry into force of this Statute.