On The Principle Of Direct And Verbal Trial In Criminal Litigation

As an important principle in modern criminal trial procedure, the principle of direct andverbal trial has contained the social fairness and justice, democracy and equality theseimportant elements, and also reflected the value orientation of modern criminal justice.Therefore, it has been the basic principle of criminal legislation and practice followedand implemented by many countries.To be a civil law country, China also absorbs and learns from the good factors of theprinciple of direct and verbal trial in varying degree during the process of the reform ofcriminal procedure system. However, being influenced by China’s national condition,the principle of direct and verbal trial has not been fully established in criminallitigation system and it is just reflected in the criminal procedure law and the relevantjudicial explanation. Therefore, from the concept of the principle of direct and verbaltrial, this paper mainly reviews the historical development of the principle of direct andverbal trial; dissects the problems which appeared in China’s implementation of theprinciple of direct and verbal trial; analyses the reasons why China has not fullyestablished the principle of direct and verbal trial. Tracing to its source, and then putsforward some constructive suggestions on the comprehensive establishment of theprinciple of direct and verbal trial in the criminal trial of China.The first chapter is about the overview of the principle of direct and verbal trial.Making a preliminary introduction to the principle of direct and verbal trial from itsconcept and value analysis these two aspects, we can establish a comprehensive andperceptional understanding of this principle.The second chapter is about the extraterritorial investigation on the principle of directand verbal trial, which is also a comprehensive review of the historical development ofthe principle. This chapter is divided into two parts, one is about its formation, and theother is about its development. On the formation, because the principle of direct andverbal trial is the exclusive rules of the civil law system, that is to say Anglo-Americanlaw system doesn’t have this principle, and it just establishes the correlative "hearsayevidence rule", the investigation on the principle’s formation is mainly focused on theprocess about the development of law in the civil law system countries. About itsdevelopment, this paper investigates the developments of the principle of direct andverbal trial in the civil law system and in Anglo-American law system respectively. The principle of direct and verbal trial which is used in modern sense originates from thejudicial reform of Germany in nineteenth Century, therefore about the development ofthis principle in the civil law system, this paper is focused on its developments inGermany and France; What’s more, in the Anglo-American law system, thedevelopment of this principle has already changed to be the establishment of “hearsayevidence rule”, so about the development of this principle in the Anglo-American lawsystem, this paper is mainly emphasized on its development in the British andAmerica.The third chapter is focused on the reflection and deficiency of the principle of directand verbal trial in criminal procedure in China. This chapter contains the problems inthe criminal procedure legislation and criminal justice practice, and gives a profoundanalysis of these problems, then find out the reasons of these problems, all of which canprovide the reference for later suggestions.Based on the deep analysis of the principle of direct and verbal trial in the above threechapters, the fourth chapter puts forward some measures and suggestions on how tostrengthen the principle of direct and verbal trial in China’s criminal trial procedure.Through these measures and suggestions, hoping to help China implement the principleof direct and verbal trial, to promote the reforming and perfecting of our country’scriminal litigation system.