This is the first extensive treatment of leading judicial institutions
under Nazi rule in WWII. It focusses on all democratic countries under
German occupation, and provides the details for answering questions
like: how can law serve as an instrument of defence against an
oppressive regime? Are the courts always the guardians of democracy and
rule of law? What role was there for international law? How did the
courts deal with dismissals, new appointees, new courts, forced German
ordinances versus national law? How did judges justify their actions,
help citizens, appease the enemy, protest against injustice? Experts
from all democracies that were occupied by the Nazis paint vivid
pictures of oppression, collaboration, and resistance. The results are
interpreted in a socio-legal framework introducing the concept of 'moral
hygiene' to explain the clash between normative and descriptive
approaches in public opinion and scholarship concerning officials'
behaviour in war-time.