Political Justice : The Use of Legal Procedure for Political Ends

How have regimes used the agencies of criminal justice for their own purposes? What characterizes the linkage of politics and justice? Drawing on a wealth of foreign and domestic source material, Otto Kirchheimer examines systematically the structure of state protection, the nature of a strictly "political" trial, including the trial by fiat of the successor regime, and the forms of legal repression that states have used against political organizations. He analyzes the Nuremberg trials, the Communist purge trials, and a number of Smith Act trials. In two highly original chapters he also explores the political and judicial nature of asylum and clemency. This study of the uneasy balance between abstract justice and political expediency is a contribution to constitutional and criminal law, political science, and social psychology. Originally published in 1961. The **Princeton Legacy Library** uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905. Preface Contents I. Introduction PART ONE. Political Justice: Cases, Causes, Methods II. Changes in the Structure of State Protection 1. The Early Setting 2. The Era of Constitutionalism 3. State Protection in Contemporary Society III. The Political Trial 1. The Political and the Criminal Trial 2. The Homicide Trial as Political Weapon 3. Case Studies in the Meaning of Treason A. Opposition as Treason: l'Affaire Caillaux B. The Libel Suit of the President 4. Enlarging the Area of Prohibited Activity A. The Limits of Fact-Finding B. The Definition of an Independent Political Operator 5. Trial Practice Beyond the Constitutional Pale 6. Trial as a Political Technique IV. Legal Repression of Political Organizations 1. Repression by Minority Fiat: Benefits and Limitations of Legality 1. Nineteenth Century Record of Repression 3. Criteria for Repression of Hostile Groups under Majority Rule A. The Anticipation of "Remote Consequences" B. The Role of the Party Doctrine C. The Weight of Specific Acts D. Tactical Motivations in Suppressing Marginal Hostile Groups 4. Variations in Attitudes toward an Opposition of Principle A. Political and Administrative Discrimination within the Constitutional Framework B. The Policy of Equal Treatment C. Equal Treatment and the Future of Democratic Institutions PART TWO. The Judge, the Defendant, and the State V. Conditions of Judicial Action 1. The Job 2. Patterns of Prosecution 3. The Meaning of Impartiality 4. The Impact of the Jury VI. The Defendant, His Lawyer, and the Court 1. The Goals of the Founders 2. In Quest of Group Identification 3. The Informer: Enemy from Within 4. The Hostile Island: Aspects of Nonconformity 5. Stages of Identification of Client and Lawyer 6. Types of Political Lawyers 7. The Political Lawyer and the Court 8. Internationalization of the Political Trial VII. "Democratic Centralism" and Political Integration of the Judiciary 1. The Stray Dog and the Political Watchman 2. Aspects of Judicial Organization 3. The Informal Structure of Authority 4. The Judge and the Other Organs of State 5. The Judge and the Community 6. "Socialist Legality": Doctrinal Gyrations 7. The Nature of Law and the Judicial Function 8. Law under the Swastika in Retrospect VIII. Trial by Fiat of the Successor Regime Introduction: Special Political Jurisdictions 1. The Quest for a Yardstick 2. L'itat Criminel and Individual Responsibility 3. Nuremberg: The Prerequisites of a Trial A. The Nature of the Charges B. Four Rejoinders I. The Sanction of the Legal Order II. Binding Orders and Necessity III. The Prejudicial Court IV. Tu quoque C. The Quality of a Court 4. Trial Technique: Eternal Quest for Improvement PART THREE. Political Justice Modified: Asylum and Clemency IX. Asylum 1. Mass Influx of Fugitives 2. A Noble Service or a Troublesome Burden? 3. The Menace of Informal Extradition 4. Political and Diplomatic Protection 5. The Changing Scope of Nonextraditable Offenses 6. The Asylum Principle Restated X. The Quality of Mercy 1. The Role of Clemency in the Apparatus of Justice 2. Types of Political Amnesty 3. A Contemporary Amnesty Record XI. Summing Up 1. The Strategy of Political Justice: “Necessity, Choice, and Convenience” 2. Planned Justice and Judicial Space 3. The Political Trial as Detour: In Quest of Justice Appendix A. The Roman Empire and the Christians Appendix B. Guillaume du Vair: The Case of the Successful Loyalty Shift Index How have regimes used the agencies of criminal justice for their own purposes? What characterizes the linkage of politics and justice? Drawing on a wealth of foreign and domestic source material, Otto Kirchheimer examines systematically the structure of state protection, the nature of a strictly "political" trial, including the trial by fiat of the successor regime, and the forms of legal repression that states have used against political organizations. He analyzes the Nuremberg trials, the Communist purge trials, and a number of Smith Act trials. In two highly original chapters he also explores the political and judicial nature of asylum and clemency. This study of the uneasy balance between abstract justice and political expediency is a contribution to constitutional and criminal law, political science, and social psychology. Originally published in 1961. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905. How have regimes used the agencies of criminal justice for their own purposes? What characterizes the linkage of politics and justice? Drawing on a wealth of foreign and domestic source material, Otto Kirchheimer examines systematically the structure of state protection, the nature of a strictly “political” trial, including the trial by fiat of the successor regime, and the forms of legal repression that states have used against political organizations. He analyzes the Nuremberg trials, the Communist purge trials, and a number of Smith Act trials. In two highly original chapters he also explores the political and judicial nature of asylum and clemency. This study of the uneasy balance between abstract justice and political expediency is a contribution to constitutional and criminal law, political science, and social psychology. Originally published in 1961. (Source: [Princeton University Press](https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691649436/political-justice))