The investigating judge and the investigation in the old Hungarian criminal procedure

Abstract

The investigating judge (or examining magistrate) is a characteristic figure of the crime stories, but it was also a significant person of the criminal process in Europe for several centuries. In the codified law of Hungary the investigating judge appeared with the first criminal procedural code: the Act No. 33 of 1896 (on the model of the French mixed system of the criminal procedural code of 1808), but the investigation phase of the criminal process conducted by a judge had been already known in the feudalism as well. This legal institute was finally abolished in our country in 1950, but there are countries (for example France) where the investigation judge still
operates nowadays as well. In my study I first review the historical antecedents of the development of the inquiry phase, and then analyse the legal characteristic of the inquiry and the investigation judge in the feudalism and in the civil era. After this I overview the main legal rules of the inquiry phase and the investigation judge in the first Hungarian criminal procedural code, and the legal practical experiences of this era. Finally I present the most important criticisms of this legal institute and the possible reasons of its termination.