The I. G. Farben Trial: Evidentiary Standards and Procedures and the Problem of Creating Legitimacy

摘要

This Note examines the evidentiary standards and procedures created for and used in the I.G. Farben Trial, one of the twelve Subsequent Nuremberg Trials held in the U.S. Occupation Zone after World War II. Because the I.G. Farben Trial was not bound by "technical rules of evidence," the three judges on the tribunal had broad discretion to develop evidentiary rules and standards. This Note argues that the I.G. Farben judges created evidentiary rules and prcedures as they arose during the trial, with no preexisting philosophy. Faced with competing factors, they based their decisions on which factor-speed and efficiency, the defendant's due process protections, the prosecution's rights - they weighed more heavily in that instance, often choosing efficiency to finish the trial more quickly. This ad hoc creation of standards and procedures led to unorthodox practices and a lack of uniformity both within the trial and across the Subsequent Nuremburg Trials. This is the first article to examine closely the evidentiary standards and procedures in the I.G. Farben Trial. More generally, this is one of the only articles to look at standards and procedures at the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials in detail.