German Code of Criminal Procedure

Author: Li Changke
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1995-04-01
Features: Readers of the Chinese translation of the "German Code of Criminal Procedure" may find the code very easy to understand, as it shows obvious similarities in structure, provisions, regulations, and even concepts and terminology to the "Chinese Code of Criminal Procedure." Although Chinese and German criminal procedures share similarities, it does not mean that there are no fundamental differences between the two legal systems. The "Chinese Code of Criminal Procedure" was introduced after the Cultural Revolution, during which a legislative wave emerged in China to establish a new legal foundation for various social relationships. In contrast, the German Code of Criminal Procedure is quite old. It was one of a series of regulations enacted by the German Empire after its establishment in 1871 to maintain legal uniformity, and came into effect in 1879. From the very beginning, the characteristic of the German Code of Criminal Procedure lay less in its unified scheme and more in the compromises it had to make between the vastly different legal orders of the former territorial states that were incorporated into the German Empire, which varied greatly in certain issues. Although the German Code of Criminal Procedure is an ancient code, it has undergone numerous revisions and modifications since its inception. Today's German Code of Criminal Procedure reflects the vicissitudes of German history in many aspects; in some places, it has even changed beyond recognition compared to its original form. Therefore, German legal scholars are not entirely without reason in describing the German Code of Criminal Procedure as a detailed record of Germany's political, social, and economic tremors and changes, likening it to an earthquake detector.