Research On The Discovery System Of Criminal Evidence

Arising from Anglo-American legal family , the discovery of evidence can also be called the disclosure of evidence or the exchange of evidence . It refers to the system that the prosecution and the defense make the evidence they have and control known by the other in appropriate means according to certain rules before the court begins to hear the case during the process of criminal litigation . As an important system in criminal procedure practicing the litigation mode of litigant doctrine , the discovery of criminal evidence has been recognized and paid more and more attention to by the academia , judicial circle and legislature of our country , because of its major significance in discovering the objective truth , maintaining the balance of prosecution and defense , pursuing the procedural fairness , preventing Ambush Trial , etc. Nations which practice the litigation mode of litigant doctrine or similar litigation mode in the world approve and carry out the system of evidence discovery without exception . In British and American , the system of evidence discovery is quite perfect. The distinctive system of evidence discovery assimilating a lot from the British and American law has been established in Italy and Japan respectively . Although Germany and France practice the litigation mode of authority doctrine as countries of continental legal family , a system of consultation similar to the discovery of evidence has been established in the two countries , i.e. there is no bidirectional evidence discovery demand in criminal litigation , but the defendant has the right to consult the files to understand the evidence of indictment provided by the prosecutor . With the gradual reform of Chinese criminal litigation and the improvement in relevant law system such as Law of the People's Republic of China on Lawyers in which lawyers' consultation rights has been revised , the establishment of Chinese system for the discovery of criminal evidence has been set in motion . On the basis of analyzing the theory of the discovery of criminal evidence and examining the relevant systems in foreign countries , the writer discussed the necessity and the feasibility of the enactment of Chinese system for the discovery of criminal evidence after commenting the Chinese current legislation on the discovery of criminal evidence . Finally , the writer proposed a concrete scheme to constitute Chinese system for the discovery of criminal evidence . The author's views on the discovery of criminal evidence in China are as follows : principles include discovery in accordance with the law principle , discovery of two-way principle , the principle of unequal discovery and the principle of public interest immunity ; bodies include investigation authorities , prosecution , private prosecutor , suspects , the defendants , legal representatives , defenders , cilvil parties in criminal fringe and their agents , excluding judge ; the time is from investigation stage to pre-trial stage ; the location of discovery is in investigation authorities and prosecution instead of court ; the scope varies with stage and body ; the main legal consequence of breach of discovery is that undisclosed evidence can not be accepted in a court of law.