Public prosecutor

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Public prosecutor

A public prosecutor's office (abbreviation StA ) is the authority that is responsible for criminal prosecution and enforcement and as such is part of the executive . It is also referred to by the term prosecution .

Legal situation in individual states

history

In ancient times the institute was unknown to the public prosecutor's office. It was left to the injured person or his family members to pursue the punishment of the perpetrator in court . The public complaint was rarely represented by speakers without the state specifically calling on them to do so.

On the European continent, the criminal process was always committed to objective truth and was conducted in the form of an inquisition . The judge was responsible for both the investigation of the facts and the judgment of the accused . This dual function was in tension with the independence and impartiality of the court. Therefore, the public prosecutor's office was created as the investigative and prosecuting authority, which relieved the courts and at the same time also partially disempowered them.

The prosecutor's office originated in France , where prosecutors emerged from the fiscal officials (gens du roi, avocats généraux, procureurs du roi) . In the Middle Ages , criminal prosecution was also entrusted to these officials , and so in France the criminal procedural activity of the public prosecutor (Parquet) developed as its main, if not exclusive, task.

Based on this model, public prosecutors were first active in Germany in the early 19th century. With the Reich Justice Acts of 1877, a uniform structure of the public prosecutor's office was achieved and it was given considerable rights . A public prosecutor's office was not set up in Liechtenstein until 1914 , until then there was only the inquisition procedure.

See also

literature

  • Thomas Weigend : Duty of Prosecution and Discretion. The position of the public prosecutor between the principle of legality and the principle of opportunity under German and American law . Nomos, Baden-Baden 1978, ISBN 3-7890-0360-3 .

Web links

Commons : Public Prosecutor's Office  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Public Prosecutor's Office  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Princely regulation of May 19, 1914, LGBl. 4/1914. Repealed on February 1, 2011 according to Art. 53 StAG.