A Historical Investigation Of The Presumption Of Innocence In Britain

The presumption of innocence as an important legal theory in the West,it has profoundly affected the development of the judicial system in most countries and regions of the world.Britain used to be the world's largest capitalist country,with colonies spread across continents.The United Kingdom,as a representative of the common law system,has profoundly influenced many countries and regions,including its colonies,with a presumption of innocence in Britain.As a research object,change has important representative meaning,which can fundamentally gain an insight into the attitude of the English nation towards power and rights,which will make the research results more universally representative and reference value.Through the analysis of many literatures and studies,it is known that the presumption of innocence in the UK comes from ancient Roman law.The most direct historical motivation is to solve the problem of human rights protection.The reason why the innocence is presumed to flourish in the UK lies in the proper legal procedure in the UK.The comprehensive and thorough implementation of the evidence system and the consensus on human rights protection.The freedom to conserve politics and the rule of law to protect freedom constitute the most iconic contribution of the English nation to the world.This article takes the historical development of the presumption of innocence in the UK as the main line,and explores the existing theoretical basis for its successful development.The history of the British legal system has changed and changed over the past millennium,and examines its interaction with the European Court of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights in the context of European integration.At the same time,based on the attitude of history,this paper explores the enlightenment of the presumption of innocence in the UK on the presumption of innocence in China,and elaborates on whether there is a presumption of innocence in China's judicial practice,and advocates how to implement it in the future.The whole paper consists of six parts,which are divided into introduction,four chapters and conclusion.The introduction mainly deals with the reasons for the selection of the topic,the research review,the theoretical significance and practical value,the research methods and the innovation of the thesis.Choosing the presumption of innocence in Britain as the research object is intended to highlight that presumption of innocence is not only a theory of criminal justice,but also an important theory of human rights protection.Presumption of innocence has avoided the occurrence of judicial arbitrariness effectively in judicial practice,which is especially important in English law.On the contrary,there are few domestic scholars' systematic research on the history of presumption of innocence in Britain,so doing this research is helpful to fill the gap.In the first chapter,it mainly combs the theoretical basis of the presumption of innocence in Britain,and it is believed that the presumption of innocence originated from the ancient Roman theory of law,and then it has been further developed in the European continent.And then the development of presumption of innocence reached to its heyday in North America.After the presumption of innocence entered the Britain,it became a part of English law under the influence of English law theory.The due process of law,the protection of rights and the rule of evidence in English law provided the institutional guarantee for the adaptive development of presumption of innocence in the Britain.Specifically,Chapter 39 of the Magna Charta Libertatum in 1215 interprets the essence of the presumption of innocence on the basis of due process of law,and the habeas corpus system,as a system,throughout the proceedings,can examine whether the legitimacy of pretrial detention is correct,whether the legal procedure is justified,and it can also guarantee the exercise of the defendant's privilege of not self-incriminating himself,which is the concrete implementation of the connotation of presumption of innocence.The provisions on evidence in English law clearly define the object of proof,the burden of proof and the standard of proof,which not only provide a prerequisite for the justification of the criminal presumption,but also one of the necessary conditions for the presumption of innocence in case practice.The second chapter mainly explores and clears the historical development of the presumption of innocence in Britain.The chapter is divided into three sections which seeks the confirmation of the legal documents under the time background since the Middle Ages of Europe,and modern times,especially the habeas corpus system in the Middle Ages,the Magna Charta Libertatum,Petition of Rights,Habeas Corpus Act,Police and Criminal evidence Act in 1984,Human Rights Act in 1998,and Criminal Justice Act in 2003 are embodied directly or indirectly.In the end,the presumption of innocence has occurred in different stages of British history,which is reflected in a series of British legal documents and has been put into practice in some major historical events.The third chapter mainly discusses the influence of European law on the development of presumption of innocence in Britain in the context of European legal integration.The European Court of Human Rights,established by the Western European States through the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms,has consistently applied the provisions of human rights protection in the Convention.In particular,the practice of the presumption of innocence in Article 6 of the Convention has produced many representative jurisprudence,and formed a case law with its own characteristics.Through the study of several typical jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights,it is found that due process is strictly followed on the basis of the human rights protection.At the same time,it is considered that the presumption of innocence under British common law differs from the presumption of innocence in the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms,in legitimacy and the domestic courts in Britain will not endorse the implementation of the provisions of treaties and other international conventions,unless these provisions have been explicitly incorporated into domestic law in Britain,or have been reflected in the English common law.The fourth chapter mainly deals with the presumption of innocence in Britain and the reform of criminal procedure in China,and holds that China can get much enlightenment from the presumption of innocence in Britain.The core implication of the presumption of innocence in Britain is about three aspects which include under the law,due process of law and priority of human rights.At the same time,it holds that there are many ideas of presumption of innocence in the history of Chinese legal thought since ancient times,but there is no presumption of innocence in the history of Chinese legal system,and the presumption of guilt is the mainstream in judicial practice.Since the founding of the people's Republic of China,the presumption of innocence has developed in twists and turns and has made some progress.As far as the practice of the presumption of innocence in contemporary China is concerned,the core implication of the presumption of innocence in China is that in dubio pro reo,and the extenuation for a suspect crime,but this is not a general presumption of innocence.Therefore,in order to achieve the successful development of presumption of innocence in China,it is necessary to abandon the thought of presumption of guilt under the doctrine of state prosecution,and to adhere to and thoroughly implement the legal conception of the supremacy of law.In the future,Article 12 in Code of Criminal Procedure should be amended to make it close to the general expression of presumption of innocence.The conclusion makes a summary and reflection on the historical development of the presumption of innocence in Britain.It is no accident that presumption of innocence has flourished in Britain,where its superior judicial system and judicial environment have allowed it to thrive.The development and implementation of the presumption of innocence in Britain can not do well without the inherent power restriction system in Britain.For example,Britain pursues the sovereignty of Baal Gate which embodies the British consensus on the restriction of power and the cherishing of freedom.At the same time,it is believed that the historical progress based on the presumption of innocence will also be fully implemented in China.