Jean Spiropoulos

From 1949 to 1957, he served as member of the International Law Commission and from 1958 to 1967, he served as judge at the International Court of Justice. Spiropoulos also obtained an absolute majority of votes in the Security Council, he has been declared elected as a member of the International Court of Justice on 1 October 1957.) At the 1st session of the International Law Commission in 1949, he sought to grant greater powers to the commission in choosing topics for its deliberations over the objections of those who sought to give greater emphasis to decisions by the UN General Assembly over such matters. He served in 1951 as special rapporteur on the issue of definition of aggression.

Jean Spiropoulos studied at National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and Leipzig University. The recorded working language is Modern Greek. Employment is recorded with Kiel University, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and The Hague Academy of International Law. Positions recorded include Judge of the International Court of Justice and President of the Institut de Droit International.

Spiropoulos took part in the formulation of the Nuremberg principles in 1950. Regarding crimes against humanity, he believed that, contrary to the trend at the Nürnberg Trials to define the Nazi party as a criminal organization, it was impossible to determine legally the extent of culpability of governments or other organizations, and sought to define culpability of individuals only. He also considered acts of individuals inciting to civil strife in another country as crimes under international law, and also viewed organized terrorism as such.