On The Terms Of Reference Of The Prosecutor

Since the reform of jurisdiction put forward by the 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China ,how to reform and improve the procuratorial system has become a center of attention. The powers of the public procurators are the core of procuratorial system .It is of great importance to recognize correctly and determine the powers of the public procurators for promoting the procuratorial work and improving the procuratorial system.When we review the course of development of procuratorial system and change of the public procurators powers in France , Germany ,Britain and the United States ,we notice that the public procurators' powers have tended to expand with the advance of procuratorial system .The powers of the public procurators in the countries of continental law system are far more extensive than those of the public procurators in the countries of Anglo-American law system .Western countries regard the public procurators as the prosecutors of the state .They represent the state to prosecute crimes in order to maintain the integration of the legal system .Hence the powers of prosecution are the basic and main ones of the public procurators in the western countries .Moreover the powers of prosecution have tended to be strengthened. They hold that other powers such as the authority to investigate, to supervise investigation, to supervise criminal trial and carry out supervision of criminal judgment and ruling. Those powers are all derived from the powers of prosecution and intended for the correct and effective exercise of powers of prosecution. But the public procurators are not given the authority to approve arrests. In the meantime, the public procurators in the western countries extensively participate in civil lawsuits and administrative lawsuits as representatives of public good so as to safeguard the interests of the state and the public. In order to guarantee the independent exercise of powers, the public procurators in the western countries practice vertical system of leadership.The powers of the public procurators have undergone constant changes since China set up procuratorial system following the example of countries of continental law system towards the end of Qing Dynasty. The Northern Warlords and the Guomindang carried out that procuratorial system and the powers of the public procurators were wide-ranging. The Chinese Communist Party set up some procuratorial organs in the revolutionary bases during the new-democratic revolution and followed the example of the procuratorial system of the Guomindang to a certain degree. But due to the war, the powers of the public procurators were quite imperfect and rather limited in preliminary hearing, arrests andpublic prosecution. However those powers gradually expanded. After the founding of new China, its procuratorial system was established on the basis of summing up practical experiences of people's procuratorial work and drawing lessons from ex-Soviet Union. The powers of new China's public procurators underwent constant changes along with twists and turns of procuratorial system, and were even deprived during the Cultural Revolution. Since reform and open up, the powers of the public procurators have been expanding along with the reestablishment and development of procuratorial system. As the special supervisors of law, the powers of the public procurators are the authority of supervision of law. At present the powers of the public procurators include the authority to investigate crimes of office workers in their duties, the authority to approve and decide on arrests, the authority to prosecute and to supervise ( including criminal lawsuit supervision, civil lawsuit supervision and administrative lawsuit supervision ).However, the authority to investigate crimes of office workers in their duties does not accord with the status of law supervisors for crimes of office workers in their duties lack supervision and restriction. Hence this affects the exercise of other powers of the public procurators. In the meantime, the powers o...