The icc has employed the ‘control-over-the-crime’ theory, which treats those who ‘control’ the commission of a crime as principal perpetrators. Legal academics and icc judges have criticised the Court’s reliance on that theory for producing unsound legal reasoning. This article engages with the question from a novel perspective, that focuses on the institutional factors affecting the adoption and reform of legal theory. Transplanting Barnett and Finnemore’s concept of the ‘pathologies’ of international organisations to the field of international law, the article argues that reforming the rules for assessing criminal responsibility is a challenging endeavour, even when those rules have exhibited significant deficiencies. Reform is possible, but it is more likely to be incremental rather than revolutionary. The findings also bear implications for international criminal justice more generally, as they suggest that the answer to delivering sound judgments is not improving criminal law theory but appreciating the peculiarities of each case.

国际刑事法院采用了“控制犯罪”理论，将“控制”犯罪行为的人视为主犯。法律学者和国际刑事法院法官批评了法院依赖该理论来产生不合理的法律推理。本文从一个新颖的角度来探讨这个问题，重点关注影响法律理论采纳和改革的制度因素。本文将巴内特和芬尼莫尔关于国际组织“病态”的概念移植到国际法领域，认为改革评估刑事责任的规则是一项具有挑战性的工作，即使这些规则存在重大缺陷。改革是可能的，但它更有可能是渐进的而不是革命性的。调查结果还对更广泛的国际刑事司法产生了影响，