Were the Nuremberg Trials Legal Essay Example

Were the Nuremberg Trials Legal Essay Thefirst international war-crimes trials began in November 1945 in Nuremberg, Germany. The International Military Tribunal (IMT) was set up by the victorious Allies (the U.S., France, Great Britain and the Soviet Union) at the end of World War II. Prosecutors from those four countries indicted a total of 22 Nazi German officials on three basic charges conspiring and ultimately launching an aggressive war, committing war crimes and committing crimes against humanity. Also indicted were various German organizations and businesses that the Allies charged with aiding the Nazi war effort. Among the atrocities that the Nazis were responsible for over the previous 10 years were the murder of six million Jews, a vast amount of homosexuals and allies of Jewish people throughout Europe and the destruction of thousands of cities and towns. The question we are pondering is whether or not the Nuremberg Trials were legal. Lets analyze this question. We shouldfirst attempt to understand what is de fined as the correct legal process and legal reasoning.In order to do that we must understand the institution, culture, process and social structure surrounding the law. There are two perspectives that you can take on the analysis of legal issues. The internal and external standpoints can help in analyzing this legal concern. The internal perspective looks at law as separate from life and society. While the external perspective views trusts that rules are affected by society and culture.So, the legal process or basic conception of law stresses the abstract in the sense of law as an ideal or statement of principles. These principles are then incorporated into written documents. On the constitutional level, law may take the form of statutes and case opinions (i.e. precedence). Furthermore, the fundamental source of law the natural conception of law tends to stress revelation and the intimate relationship between law and moral values. And, the