Territorial Jurisdiction Over Cross-frontier Offences: Revisiting a Classic Problem of International Criminal Law

The principle of territoriality is the cornerstone of the law of criminal jurisdication. The question arises, however, how the principle ought to be applied to cross-frontier offences which have connections to more than one territory. It is demonstrated that, from a study of six Western States, it transpires that the constituent elements approach (pursuant to which jurisdiction is found as soon as a constituent element of the crime has occurred on the territory) is the dominant approach, with the exception of England. As far as cross-frontier participation and inchoate offences are concerned, however, solutions diverge considerably among States.