The principal aim of this thesis is the articulation of an overarching conceptual framework for the formulation and evaluation of procedural rules for war crimes tribunals of all kinds. As such, it examines an area of international procedural criminal law largely neglected by scholars and researchers. In setting out this framework, the thesis carries out three functions. The first is to highlight the anomaly consisting in the co-existence of, on the one hand, a coherent and uniform body of substantive war crimes law and, on the other, an incoherent and inconsistent body of procedural war crimes law. The second is to expose the negative practical consequences flowing from this anomaly. The third, and most fundamental, is to show how the articulation of an overarching conceptual framework for war crimes tribunals takes the important first step in removing the anomaly and eliminating its negative practical consequences.