Nuremberg tribunal [Nuremberg, Germany; L, tribunus, platform for administration of justice] , an international tribunal planned and implemented by the United Nations War Crimes Commission to detect, apprehend, try, and punish people accused of war crimes. In preparation for the prosecution of World War II criminals, the U.S. War Department assigned Andrew Ivy, M.D., to devise a set of principles to govern the participation of human beings in medical research, which became known as the Nuremberg code. The principle and practice of informed consent were reinforced by the precedent set in the trials in which Nazi physicians were declared guilty of crimes against humanity in performing experiments on human beings who were not volunteers and did not consent. See also Helsinki Accords.
