William Schabas Delivers 31st Horace E. Read Memorial Lecture

William A. Schabas, a law professor and international authority on human rights and the abolition of capital punishment, delivered the 31st Horace E. Read Memorial Lecture on November 27, 2007. Horace Read was dean of Dalhousie Law School from 1950 to 1964. The Horace E. Read lecture was established as a joint project of the Read family and the law school in 1977 to honour his contribution to the school.

This year’s lecture focused on the International Criminal Court, which Schabas played an instrumental role in creating. The Court was established to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. However, according to Schabas, it is not currently meeting expectations due to slowness in prosecuting cases. “If you believe that the threat of prosecution is going to be a deterrent, you have to be in a hurry,” said Schabas. “Every day the clock ticks, there is a body count.” Schabas remains optimistic that if a new prosecutor, willing to work more quickly, is put in place, the Court could eventually function as planned.

More information on the International Criminal Court can be found in Schabas’s book, An Introduction to the International Criminal Court.