German criminal procedure

Author: Wen Xiaojie
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: The German Code of Criminal Procedure has a very long tradition. It can be traced back to 1877, when methods of discovery and investigation of crimes were vastly different from those of today, and the political system and moral concepts of German society were still deeply rooted in traditional values. However, the criminal procedure law that developed in the second half of the 19th century proposed modern, free, and rational solutions to many problems that still perplex criminal procedure scholars today. Importantly, Germany managed to establish a system based on the court's responsibility to "discover the truth," with strong involvement of the parties in the litigation process. Therefore, Germany's system strives to achieve the best mix of criminal procedure procedures constructed by the Anglo-American and Continental traditions, and has achieved certain success. After 1877, many amendments were made to the provisions of criminal procedure law, especially the rights of suspects and defendants in litigation were greatly strengthened. However, the basic framework of criminal procedure has not changed, which may be a manifestation of the structural conservatism of German legal scholars, but it may also be the empirical quality of the original legislation. I feel particularly honored to present an outline of the German Code of Criminal Procedure to Chinese readers in this small book. The Criminal Procedure Law and Prison Law, Police Law, and other laws formulated by the People's Republic of China in 1996 had German translations in 1997, which led to active academic discussions in Germany about China's achievements in the modernization of procedural law. I sincerely hope that the publication of this book can further promote discussions on criminal procedure issues between China and Germany. These issues, regardless of their political and economic tendencies, exhibit similar characteristics in the majority of legal systems in the world. We must strive to find the best solution that can respect personal rights and achieve the objectives of litigation, i.e., a fair judgment based on an actual evaluation of relevant facts. This small book can only provide a simple introduction to some basic issues of the German Code of Criminal Procedure. I attempted to highlight the most important provisions of the criminal procedure code by focusing on relevant case law and academic discussions, but readers should know that I did not provide references for all sources. Those who intend to study special issues in the German criminal procedure system would find it more prudent to consult original German works. The publication of this book would not have been possible without the encouragement and steadfast, active support of my invaluable colleague and friend, Professor Yue Liling of China University of Political Science and Law. She personally translated the substantive parts of the book originally written in English and reviewed the entire manuscript, and she also arranged for the book to be published by a renowned law journal.