Includes bibliographical references (p. 383-395) and index.

To augment the voluminous technical literature, Schabas (human rights law, National U. of Ireland-Galway) offers non-specialists a succinct and coherent introduction to the legal issues involved in the creation and operation of the Court. He includes references to more detailed sources, and suggests that serious students consult the original records of the 1998 Diplomatic Conference and the meetings that preceded it, but warns them that it can be challenging to distill meaningful analysis and conclusions from them. The first edition appeared in 2001, and he attributes the precocity of the second to the rapid developments in the Court, which came into force in July 2002, a scant four years after it was adopted.