Abstract

The interpretation and the application of international criminal law raises several issues, namely those connected with the margin of appreciation recognised to the judiciary in interpreting its provisions. These are not all set out in Treaties but, instead, derive also from customary international law, where this margin is even wider given that interpretation does not deal with texts but with practices which have to be ascertained in their turn, and whose content is therefore also interpretatively determined. The article then examines the issue of the respect of the Principle of Legality in international criminal adjudication, as well as the incidence of the margin of appreciation of International Courts on national judiciary, especially in the light of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and its subsequent implementation obligations. Under this respect, the article examines the aims of the draft Italian Code of International Crimes delivered in May 2022 by the Committee of Experts appointed by the Italian Minister of Justice, which aims at fully implementing the Rome Statute as well as customary international rules into the domestic legal system.