The indictment also makes it necessary for us to decide how far a state may and can consider itself competent to extend its power to punish [Strafgewalt] acts committed abroad. Is it consistent with international law to prosecute foreigners for punishable acts committed abroad? The extent to which a state may take it upon itself to take action for acts committed abroad depends on whether such state inclines toward the principle of personality [Personalitaetsprinzip], the principle of territoriality [Territorialitaetsprinzip], the principle of protective law [Schutzrechtsgrundsatz], or the principle of universal law [Weltrechtsgrundsatz]. As can be seen from a study of comparative law and from the history of law, diverse and variable opinions are held about this in the different countries, and the science of international law after the First World War shows this in particular. We shall point out the basic principles which are contained in sections 3 and 4 of the Penal Code of 1870, and we shall find again in the Supplementary Law (Novelle) of 6 May 1940, which extends the sphere of authority of the penal law, and which is now being assailed by the prosecution, ideas drafted for the reform of the penal law conceived long before 1933. Article 153a of the Code of Criminal Procedure is, to a certain degree, intended to act as a safety valve against a too exaggerated application, and has in fact greatly reduced prosecutions, and it shall be dealt with in this context. The discussion on the introduction of German law and the establishment of German courts in the Protectorate will cover the three decrees of the Ministry of Justice, which were also issued as a result of a decree published by Hitler in the form of a law, and an ordinance supplementing this decree, both of which were not countersigned by the Reich Ministry of Justice. In this connection, it is necessary to clarify the international relations existing between the so-called Protectorate and the German Reich. Are we concerned with a bilateral international treaty negotiated between Hacha and Hitler, an intervention, an annexation, or an occupation? From the subjective point of view, what the German public and what the defendants actually knew about conditions then prevailing will be decisive in each case. We shall have to discuss here and at other occasions--and this is not dependent on the above--whether within the scope of the indictment concerning a crime against humanity, the actually selected form of legislation and administration of justice is not also justified in its scope under different international conditions. Can one, to give an example, consider it inhuman if members of the Protectorate were subjected to the provisions of the German Criminal (Penal) Code regarding treason and high treason, if the provisions of the law governing occupied territories would also have justified the same penalties for aiding and abetting a hostile army?