Once a decision was made by the four Allied powers—Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States—to conduct a war crimes trial, it was necessary to determine the rules by which it would be conducted. No trial of its kind had ever been held, so procedures and principles needed to be established. Some were already a part of the history of international law, but much of the trial's foundation had to be laid from scratch by the participants. Since it was decided early on that the trial would be open and every effort would be made to make it fair, it was important to make the rules clear and public. This was done in a charter for the Nuremberg Trial, which is excerpted here.

I. Constitution of the International Military Tribunal

Article 1.

In pursuance...