Viktor Bérces: Evidence in Criminal Proceedings
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Chapter IV. Principles of evidence
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4.1. Concept and classification of the principles of evidence

4.1. Concept and classification of the principles of evidence

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The principles of evidence are legislative expectations that help to decide questions of law and fact and set the framework for this decision-making process, and apply to the whole spectrum of official (judicial) proceedings. These principles are regulated by modern procedural codes on the basis of a roughly identical approach.

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After 1989, Hungarian legislation and the application of the law have mastered the essence of the international – criminal procedure-related – documents, and even more, their practical implementation – in the name of the “rule of law” – has been their primary goal. The legal professions have realised that ‘the criminal justice system is a mirror in which the whole of society can see the darker side of its face,1 and the status of the accused is a very good reflection of the quality of the rule of law in a given State.2

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Through the various international and European conventions, new principles have been established, such as “due process”, “the rule of law”, or “equality of arms”, which Király calls “universal principles”,3 while Tremmel calls “super principles”4 . Of course, it is not easy to couple these modern terms with the old legal institutions (e.g. the right to defence) and to systematise them dogmatically. However, a unified system is necessary in my view, one principle must be consistently deducible from another. It is no coincidence that such theoretical experiments are almost commonplace in academic publications. Thus, for example, Finszter, who, quoting Vervaele, identifies the following as ‘sub-principles’ of the nulla poena sine lege principle, points to the interrelationship of procedural principles:

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  • nulla culpa sine iudicio (no guilt without a conviction);
  • nullum iudicium sine accusatione (no judgment without an accusation);
  • nulla accusation sine probatione (no accusation without proof);
  • nulla probatio sine defensione (no proof without defence).5
 

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The method of systematisation is also complicated by the fact that the individual principles – by virtue of their broad definition and designation – can be derived back and forth from each other. In particular, the concept of ‘due process’ is problematic, under the umbrella of which essentially all procedural principles can be classified. However, I would consider it somewhat over-generalised to regard all procedural principles as part of this declaratory legal instrument. Although our method might seem logically correct, the chronological order in which each procedural principle emerged would make this system look deceptive.

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We must also break with the traditional solutions that limit themselves to an analysis of the “triple classic” (officiality, prohibition of self-incrimination, and in dubio pro reo) in relation to evidence. Almost all procedural principles apply to the taking of evidence and I therefore consider it necessary to analyse them all.
1 Jeffrey H. Reiman: The rich get richer and the poor get prison: ideology, class and criminal justice. New York, Wiley, 1979, 1.
2 Flórián Tremmel: Jogállam és büntetőeljárás. [Rule of law and criminal procedure.] Jogtudományi Közlöny, 1989/12. 620.
3 Tibor Király: Büntetőeljárási jog. [Criminal Procedure Law.] ibid. 134–136.
4 Flórián Tremmel: Magyar büntetőeljárás. [Hungarian criminal procedure]. Budapest–Pécs, Dialóg Campus, 2001, 68–71.
5 Géza Finszter: Az alkotmányos büntetőeljárás és a nyomozás. [Constitutional criminal procedure and investigation.] Fundamentum, 1997/2. 111.
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