About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

4 Wake Forest Intramural L. Rev. 300 (1968)
Private Prosecution in Criminal Cases

handle is hein.journals/wflr4 and id is 306 raw text is: PRIVATE PROSECUTION IN CRIMINAL CASES INTRODUCTION Private prosecution is gradually being attacked in the United Stated as an unacceptable element of criminal prose- cution. In a period of concern for the rights of the defendant by the federal courts, private prosecution offers fertile grounds for appeal or habeas corpus in the state court as well as the federal court. No defendant should be heard to complain merely because of zeal displayed on the part of the prosecutor, but zeal motivated by pecuniary reward is another matter. A criminal trial is a hearing by the state to determine if the conduct of the individual on trial has fallen outside the bounds allowed by society. The introduction of the element of pri- vately-hired prosecution into such a trial raises the doubt that the prosecutor is as concerned with determining the guilt or innocence of the defendant as he is with securing a conviction. Private prosecution raises the doubt as to whether the prosecutor is hired to prosecute or is hired to convict. Private prosecution in our legal system is the result of our English heritage of common law. Since the adoption of this element of the common law by the colonies, the English have restricted the use of private prosecution in practice, while the restrictions placed upon private prosecution in the United States have been largely theoretical. To under- stand the current issue, we must understand what has gone before. THE ENGLISH SYSTEM OF PROSECUTION AT EARLY COMMON LAW In English criminal law, one of the most notable fea- tures is that a relatively large proportion of criminal prose- cution is at the instigation of private persons. This is a holdover from early English criminal procedure when almost all criminal prosecutions were brought by private persons, save those initiated by grand juries. Chitty, in his treatise on criminal law, remarks:

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most