Nuremberg defence

A form of Nuremberg defense — An explanation offered as an excuse for behaving in a criminal or wrongful manner, claiming that one acted in this way because one was ordered by others (particularly superiors) to do so.

Meanings

nounNuremberg defence (plural Nuremberg defences)

plural Nuremberg defences

  1. UKalternativeAlternative spelling of Nuremberg defense.
    3 more examples

    In United States v. Berrigan, a Federal court in Maryland laid down a legal blueprint for the treatment of war protest cases where an attempt was made to invoke the "Nuremberg defence." Father Philip Berrigan and three others stood charged with injuring the property of the United States Government, mutilating records filed in a public office of the United States, and hindering the administration of the Military Selective Service Act.

    1980 January, Gary Komarow, “Individual Responsibility under International Law: The Nuremberg Principles in Domestic Legal Systems”, in The International and Comparative Law Quarterly, volume 29, number 1, London: British Institute of International and Comparative Law, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 28

    An area in which one may indeed use the international defence, like the Nuremberg defence, though with little success, is opposition to nuclear weapons and other situations where civil disobedients set themselves against military combat. […] Therefore, civil disobedients' interference in the production of weapons is not criminally culpable, but rather clearly excusable as avoiding the violation of a more serious law. Although this defence has had little success so far, it is worth brandishing and counts amongst the defences preferred by civil disobedients.

    2004, María José Falcón y Tella, “The Positive Aspect”, in Peter Muckley, transl., Civil Disobedience (Monographs on International Law and Human Rights; 7), Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, →ISBN, page 216

    Three nuns, Carol Gilbert, Jackie Hudson and Ardeth Platte, were jailed for between 30 and 41 months for attempting in 2002 a 'citizen weapons inspection', public exposure and symbolic disarmament of a Minuteman III nuclear missile silo near New Raymer, Colorado. […] At their trial in 2003, however, US District Judge Robert Blackburn barred the jury from hearing international law and Nuremberg defences.

    2011, Michael Head, “Espionage, Official Secrets and Sabotage”, in Crimes against the State: From Treason to Terrorism, Farnham, Surrey; Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate, →ISBN; republished Abingdon, Oxon.; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, 2016, →ISBN, page 143
Cite this entry
APA

Nuremberg defence. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Nuremberg%20defence

MLA

“Nuremberg defence.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Nuremberg%20defence. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Nuremberg defence,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Nuremberg%20defence.

Source: Nuremberg defence on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.