The lawyer Hersch Lauterpacht, who played a key role in prosecuting the Nazis at the Nuremberg trials and whose belief that sovereign states should be held accountable for crimes against their own people led to lasting change in international law, has been commemorated with a blue plaque at his former home in Cricklewood, north west London.

Lauterpacht’s writings on the rights of man, the wrongs of war and the abuse of state power saw him join the British War Crimes Executive at the Nuremberg trials of the captured Nazi leaders. Conceptually, Lauterpacht’s vital contributions were to recommend the use of the now familiar terms “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity” to pin down the Nazi leaders. He ensured that the so-called Nuremberg defence – “I was only following orders” – would not wash. Lauterpacht’s part in ensuring that justice (as distinct from revenge) was served on that occasion was remarkable enough, but the Nuremberg tribunal’s adoption of his line – that war crimes were “committed by men, not abstract entities”– had enormous implications for the conduct of international relations since.

Born to a devout Jewish family in Żółkiew, Eastern Galicia, then a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Zhovkva, Ukraine), Lauterpacht moved to London in 1923, originally to study at the LSE. The plaque will mark 103 Walm Lane in Cricklewood that was his family home for 10 years and remains much as he would have left it. It was in this terraced house that his son Elihu – who went on to be a prominent lawyer himself – was born in 1928 and where Lauterpacht was living when he was naturalised as a British citizen in 1931. Eli recalled his father spending much time in his study at the back of the house, though he also remembered his parents dancing around the living room to the strains of Bizet’s Carmen. Lauterpacht’s own parents visited his Cricklewood home twice and on the last visit, in 1935, the economic conditions and growing anti-Jewish discrimination was such that Lauterpacht pleaded with them to stay. They decided to return home to Poland and were killed by the Nazis during the Second World War.

Lawyer and writer Philippe Sands, author of East West Street, said: “Lauterpacht, who was born near Lviv, today in Ukraine, moved to 103 Walm Lane, in Cricklewood, not so long after coming to Britain in the 1920s, where he would teach at the London School of Economics. It was here too, that my first teacher of international law, his son Elihu, lived as a schoolboy.

“Hersch was likely the most influential international lawyer of the twentieth century, a scholar, a counsel, a judge, a father of the modern system of human rights, and the individual who proposed the introduction of the notion of ‘crimes against humanity’ into international law, at Nuremberg. The lawyer who put the wellbeing of the individual at the heart of international law, he did not seek attention, and would surely be surprised to be recognised in this wonderful way by English Heritage. His remarkable contribution has particular resonance and significance in our times, in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

English Heritage’s Jeremy Ashbee said: “Lauterpacht’s work as part of the prosecution team for the Nuremberg Trials meant that the so-called Nuremberg defence – ‘I was only following orders’ – would not wash. His part in ensuring that justice (as distinct from revenge) was served on that occasion was remarkable but he remains an under-celebrated figure. A plaque at his former home, in Cricklewood, is extremely well deserved and I hope will introduce more people to this inspiring lawyer.”

The central idea behind much of Lauterpacht’s work was that the sovereign right of nation states did not allow governments to treat their citizens in any way they wished, and that international law should offer protection for the human rights of individuals. Lauterpacht had personal experience of the failure of one previous international legislative bid to protect ethnic and religious minorities – the Polish Minorities Treaty agreed at the time of the Treaty of Versailles – and he lost all but one of his Poland-based relatives (including both his parents and his sister) to Nazi extermination policies during the Second World War. Coming from the background that he did, and at the time that he lived, this work clearly had a significance that carried far beyond academia. This remains true – and highly resonant – today.

The English Heritage London Blue Plaques scheme is generously supported by David Pearl, Knight Frank and members of the public.