superior orders

superior orders

A plea or legal defense strategy in which the defendant claims that their actions were solely the result of carrying out the orders of superiors and that, as such, they should not be found guilty of such actions. Often known as the "Nuremberg defense," which is a reference to the use of such a defense by political and military leaders of defeated Nazi Germany in the Nuremberg Trials of 1945–46. Against the charge of unlawful murder during wartime, the staff sergeant's defense attorney put forward a superior orders defense, claiming that the killings were carried out under direct orders by superior officers.
See also: order
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • lawful orders
  • Nuremberg defense
  • luck of the draw
  • mouse that has but one hole is quickly taken
  • the mouse that has but one hole is quickly taken
  • marriage of convenience
  • above (one's) pay grade
  • beyond (one's) pay grade
  • grade
  • paygrade
References in classic literature
But nobody ever sang by moonlight on the upper deck, and the congregational singing at church and prayers was not of a superior order of architecture.
Two or three servants of a superior order stood behind their master upon the dais; the rest occupied the lower part of the hall.
"Oh, second father," he exclaimed, "thou who hast given me liberty, knowledge, riches; thou who, like beings of a superior order to ourselves, couldst understand the science of good and evil; if in the depths of the tomb there still remain something within us which can respond to the voice of those who are left on earth; if after death the soul ever revisit the places where we have lived and suffered, -- then, noble heart, sublime soul, then I conjure thee by the paternal love thou didst bear me, by the filial obedience I vowed to thee, grant me some sign, some revelation!
He had looked forward, you are aware, to a brilliant career among "the blacks"; but, either because they had already seen too many white men, or for some other reason, they did not at once recognize him as a superior order of human being; besides, there were no princesses among them.
In light of the above, the question arises as to whether, if they were sued civilly or prosecuted criminally, the former MEC for health, the mental health director, the head of the department of health and the project manager could use the defence of 'superior orders' to escape liability, and whether the former MEC for health could escape liability by blaming the mental health director, the head of the department of health and the project manager for the deaths.
If Tele-Liban is barred from carrying out its duties towards a Statesman who has shed his blood for this State, free podiums do exist and they need no superior orders from anyone to carry out their national duty," Karameh asserted.
The defence of "superior orders" has been used since the Holy Roman Empire.
As a chairman of the state's Security Council was reported to have told the students that he can imprison anyone who does not abide by the superior orders. When he was confronted by the students about whether he feels guilty about the role plays, his answer was that he is only a soldier to President Al-Bashir and is executing the orders.
They are obeying superior orders. The orders come directly from the PNP chief, and he also receives orders from the President.
That's why international law recognises individual criminal responsibility and rejected the defence of superior orders. And that's why it's important to bring remaining Nazis to account.
The common-law position regarding unlawful homicide and the doctrine of 'superior orders'
In a distinct but increasingly overlapping area of law, domestic and international legal systems provide defenses for subordinates acting in obedience to superior orders. At the international level, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court allows defendants charged with war crimes to invoke the defense of superior orders if the command obeyed was not "manifestly unlawful," a standard that has garnered substantial criticism.
Cook did not want to criticize the court members directly, and he acknowledged that Patton's speech to the 45th's officers provided both a moral and a legal basis for the panel's conclusion that Compton had acted pursuant to superior orders. Lieutenant Colonel Cook also conceded that the 1928 Manual for Courts-Martial provided that the "general rule is that the acts of a subordinate officer or soldier, done in good faith ...
The excuses of insanity, (90) intoxication, (91) duress, (92) and superior orders (narrowly conceived) (93) are all specifically set out in Part 3.