Introduction

Radhabinod Paul's descent at the Tokyo War Crimes Trials was a product of many different contemporary factors. Chief Justice William Web wanted to avoid independent descents for fear that visible disagreement among the judges would undermine the legitimacy of the tribunal. The records of the Tokyo Tribunal, unlike the Nuremberg one, were never officially published after the fact. By 1948 you see much of the public had moved on from discussion of the war years.