THE INVESTIGATING MAGISTRATE (JUGE D'INSTRUCTION) IN EUROPEAN CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

For nearly five centuries the distinctive figure in the preliminary stages of European criminal proceedings has been the investigating magistrate, known in France as the juge d'instruction. Although temporarily eclipsed by the revolutionary reforms in France in 1791, he was soon re-established. In other European countries the juge d'instruction continued to be the central figure in the preliminary procedure through all the reforms achieved by the liberal movements of the nineteenth century. The investigating magistrate has remained a purely Continental institution.

In theory and in practice he embodies the essential difference between Continental and Anglo-American criminal procedure preliminary to trial.