Judges of the IMTFE
Front row: Lord Patrick (Britain), Major General Myron Cramer (U.S.A.), Sir William Webb (Australia, chief judge), MeiRuao (China), General Ivan Zarynov (Soviet Union).
Back row: Radhabinod Pal (India), Bert Roling (Holland), E. Stuart McDougall (Canada), Henri Bernard (France), Erima Harvey Northcroft (New Zealand), Delfin Jaranilla (Philippines).
Sir William Webb (1887-1972) AUSTRALIA
Webb was the chief justice of Queensland and a member of Australia’s war crimes commission. Webb was friendly with MacArthur and MacArthur appointed him chief judge (known as “the president”) of the court. Known for his energy and temper, Webb had little patience with defense lawyers who asked overly long questions and pushed all lawyers to stick to the facts and limit evidentiary arguments. Other judges found Webb too controlling. Judge Roling said, “Our President was a dictator.” Webb was the principal drafter of the court’s judgment. Although expressing early private doubts that waging an aggressive war could be a crime, he backed down from that position.
Mei Ruao (1904-1973) REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Mei was a well-educated, urbane, young rising star in the Republic of China. He graduated magna cum laude from Stanford and then received a J.D. degree from the University of Chicago. Mei played an important role in the trial, insisting that the judgment and verdict of the tribunal gave fair weight to the suffering of Asians, not judge members of the Western militaries. He pushed the chief judge to write an opinion that was harsh, conclusive, and relatively brief. Mei argued that Emperor Hirohito should also have been a defendant at the trial.
Radhabinod Pal (1886-1967) INDIA
Although porn into poverty in a rural East Bengal village, Pal’s intelligence and his persistent mother got him into a Calcutta law school, and he went on to teach law at Calcutta University. He was polite, soft-spoken, dignified, and demonstrated a soft spot for the poor and disadvantaged. He believed that law should not be based on revenge and expressed skepticism that a victim of a crime (including wartime crimes) could dispense justice. Pal is remembered for his outspoken criticism of European nationalism and his dissent in the Tokyo war crimes trial. Several judges complained that Pal had made up his mind to dissent before the trial even opened. Japanese nationalists even today consider Pal a hero.
Erima Harvey Northcroft (1884-1953) NEW ZEALAND
Northcroft was a the Judge Advocate General in the New Zealand Army and a member of New Zealand’s Supreme Court. Although often frustrated by the chief judge, a calming voice among the IMTFE’s judges. Northcroft was part of the Commonwealth bloc that stood firmly for conviction of all defendants.
William Lord Patrick (1889-1967) BRITAIN
Patrick served a flight commander in the Royal Air Force in World War I, then returned to a legal career where he worked on many high profile cases before becoming the lord justice of the High Court of Edinburgh. Patrick was a man of strong opinions and led the bloc of Commonwealth judges. His goal was to uphold the Nuremberg judgment and reach a unanimous verdict, including on the counts related to waging an aggressive war.
Bernard (“Bert”) Victor Roling (1906-1985) HOLLAND
Roling was a young (39 years old) and idealistic law professor. He was sincere and scholarly and bonded with Judge Pal at the trial. He said he found himself at the trial “looking more for understanding than for judgment.” Roling questioned both the legality of the tribunal’s charter and the counts related to waging an aggressive war and argued that the Japanese leaders should only be charged for conventional war crimes and atrocities. He expressed doubt that convicted leaders for engaging in an aggressive wars would deter future wars.
Henri Bernard (1889-1986) FRANCE
During the Second World War, Bernard joined Free France. After the war, Bernard briefly returned to his duties as a colonial magistrate. Bernard issued a dissenting opinion at the IMTFE, criticizing the proceedings as partial, and arguing that Emperor Hirohito, who he considered to be the "principal perpetrator" of the war, should have been prosecuted.
John Higgins (1893-1955) UNITED STATES
Higgins was a judge on the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. Higgins resigned from the IMTFE in June 1946 to return to his family and his former role on the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. He was largely regarded as a weak choice to be the U.S. representative and did not play a major role in Tokyo.
Major General Myron Cramer (1881-1966) UNITED STATES
Cramer was a Harvard Law graduate, a former lawyer in Washington state, and then served as Judge Advocate General during World War II. Cramer was appointed as the U.S. representative on the 11-member tribunal after the resignation of John Higgins. Cramer was one of four judges who expressed early doubts as to whether waging an aggressive war could be considered a crime.
Major General Ivan Michyevich Zarynov (1894-1975) SOVIET UNION
Zarrynov was a Red Army judge and a judge in the 1930s of purge trials of Trotskyites. Unlike other judges, Zarynov chose not to wear a suit and robe, but instead his Red Army uniform. Zarynov did not act as a judge in the usual sense of the word (he could care less about procedure and everyone knew he would find all defendants guilty regardless of the evidence). He seemed angry when defense lawyers presented evidence such as defense lawyers typically do. Zarynov was in Tokyo merely to enforce the policy decisions of Soviet leadership.
Delfin Jaranilla (1883-1980) PHILIPPINES
Jaranilla was a colonel and judge advocate general in the Philippine army, where he held courts-martial for Philippine deserters. Having endured the horrific Bataan death march, Jaranilla made no secret of his strongly anti-Japanese feelings. At the trial, Jaranilla was tough on the defense and tried whenever possible to speed the trial along. European judges on the court considered Jaranilla, an ardent admirer of MacArthur, to be overly Americanized in his views.
E. Stuart McDougall (1886-1957) CANADA
McDougall was a graduate of McGill law school, a politician and a judge of the Court of King’s Bench of Quebec. McDougall bonded with the other Commonwealth judges from Britain and New Zealand and, like them, was frustrated with chief judge Webb’s handling of the trial. Together, they formed a solid bloc for convictions.