British judge Geoffrey Lawrence presided over the Nuremberg Trials. These trials of Nazi war criminals became the most important event in international law during the twentieth century. As president of the allied tribunal in 1945, Lord Justice Lawrence had a judge's traditional authority to direct the court, rule on evidence and motions, and interpret the law. Nuremberg, however, was unlike any court or any trial before it. Never before had multiple nations of the world put one nation's government officials on trial, let alone for such extraordinary and heinous crimes as those arising from the Holocaust.

Born in 1880, Lawrence had a distinguished legal career. He studied at Oxford University and was called to the bar in 1906 at the age of 26. Known for his eloquence and brilliant legal mind, he practiced law for twenty-five years before being appointed to the English judiciary. In 1932, he was made a judge of the...