Jean Spiropoulos, or originally Ioannis Georgiou Spyropoulos ( Greek: Ιωάννης Σπυρόπουλος, 16 October 1896 – 7 August 1972) was a Greek expert in international law. He studied law at the Universities of

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and

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. From 1928 onward, he taught Public International law at the

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and several universities in Greece. From 1949 to 1957, he served as member of the International Law Commission and from 1958 to 1967, he served as judge at the

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. (Since Mr. Spiropoulos also obtained an absolute majority of votes in the Security Council, he has been declared elected as a member of the International Court of Justice on 1 October 1957.) At the 1st session of the International Law Commission in 1949, he sought to grant greater powers to the commission in choosing topics for its deliberations over the objections of those who sought to give greater emphasis to decisions by the UN General Assembly over such matters. He served in 1951 as special rapporteur on the issue of definition of

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Legal philosophy

Spiropoulos took part in the formulation of the Nuremberg principles in 1950. Regarding crimes against humanity, he believed that, contrary to the trend at the Nürnberg Trials to define the Nazi party as a criminal organization, it was impossible to determine legally the extent of culpability of governments or other organizations, and sought to define culpability of individuals only. He also considered acts of individuals inciting to civil strife in another country as crimes under international law, and also viewed organized terrorism as such.''Yearbook of the ILC, 1950'', vol. I, p. 127

Works (partial list)

* Jean Spiropoulos, ''Ausweisung und Internierung feindlicher Staatsangehöriger'' (1922) * Jean Spiropoulos, ''Die De-facto-Regierung im Völkerrecht'' (1926) * Jean Spiropoulos, ''L'individu en Droit International'' (1928) * Jean Spiropoulos, ''Manual Droit International Public'' (1933) * Jean Spiropoulos, ''Théorie Générale du Droit International''. Paris, Librairie Générale de Droit et de Jurisprudence, 1930. * Jean Spiropoulos, ''Traité théorique et pratique de droit international public''. Paris, Librairie générale de droit et de jurisprudence, 1933.

Bibliography

* Dimitri S. Constantopoulos, ''Jean Spiropoulos. Sa vie et son œuvre''. "Le Monde Diplomatique". Juin 1958. * ''Festschrift für Jean Spiropoulos''. Grundprobleme des internationalen Rechts. Problèmes fondamentaux du Droit International. Fundamental Problems of International Law. Bonn, Schimmelbusch 1957.

Notes

International law scholars 20th-century Greek judges 1896 births 1972 deaths People from Nafplion International Court of Justice judges Members of the Academy of Athens (modern) University of Zurich alumni Leipzig University alumni Academic staff of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki {{international-law-stub