Had the pleasure of hearing Judge Howard Morrison speak at the University of Greenwich. He’s sharp, direct, and very funny. A man who has stepped between armed factions, drafted laws with a stroke of the pen (literally), and taught Radovan Karadžić how to cross-examine witnesses. He describes himself as a “fully qualified grumpy old man.” Hard to argue.
Judge Morrison seen the chaos of international law up close. In Fiji, during a coup, he stood between two armed groups and told them, “The Queen would be very upset.” It worked. They backed down. He got an OBE. In Anguilla, as Attorney General, he had to draft the country’s first anti-drug law while sitting in a cabinet where one of his colleagues profited from the trade. His solution? Take an English law, cross out “England” and replaced it with “Anguilla”.
At the Yugoslav Tribunal, they started with “low-hanging fruit” like prison guards before prosecuting the big names—Milosevic and Karadžić. The latter defended himself. Morrison gave him a tutorial on cross-examination. “He picked it up quickly.”
On issues of international justice, he’s unequivocal: “Is there politics in international law? Is there alcohol in whisky?” He is particularly outraged that the same people who celebrated Putin’s arrest warrant later condemned the warrant for Netanyahu. “Either we have the rule of law, or we don’t.”
The crime of aggression is almost impossible to prosecute—the question of executive immunity makes everything messier. Morrison is pragmatic: “I don’t think we should have any immunity at all. Causes more trouble than it solves. Like giving a candy to a child—hard to take away. Same with veto power in the UN Security council.”
And when a student asked how he copes with the weight of it all, he confessed: “Do I do counselling? No. Do I need it? Probably. There’s a thing called single malt scotch.”
Elia Kabanov is a science writer covering the past, present and future of technology (@metkere).
Illustration by Elia Kabanov feat. Midjourney.
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