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Among various laws，the criminal procedure law is the one with a long history. With the separation between substantial law and procedural law，the procedural law has been established in the history. Recalling this，we may find that some principles of criminal justice recognized in ancient time still remain vital at present. The criminal procedure law research has a long history too. Scholars of generation after generation dedicated their wisdom to the criminal procedure law study and made it as one of the subjects of social science academy. To view the criminal procedure researches of various countries in the world，we may also find that the criminal procedure law research has been in continued development in terms of both depth and width.
In the late Qing Dynasty，as one of the influences from the Western countries，the Chinese government made the modern criminal procedure law independent of the substantial law by following the model of Western countries.In the period of the Nationalists ruled China，a criminal procedure code with an almost mature completed system and contents was made. With this development，criminal procedure law study as an independent academic branch was established and set as a lecture course in universities.
After the founding of the People’s Republic of China，with a long time effort and difficult process，China has achieved not only in making a Criminal Procedure Law but also making the criminal procedure law study as a fair developed branch of social science. Its development，in turn，has set a good basis for improving criminal procedure legislation and enforcement.
Criminal procedure law is one of the procedural laws. In modern society，people have realized the importance of procedural laws in protecting of the system of rule of law and human rights. Some people even have regarded procedural laws as the key point of telling the difference between the rule of law and arbitrary ruling. The basic nature of rule of law is that the law should restrict the state authority so that it should not impose unlawful interference with individuals’ liberty. People may control state power via a due process. Therefore the execution of the state power correctly can be guaranteed. While people accept the principles of rule of law and democracy，the necessity of procedure is accepted as well. The importance of procedural laws such as criminal procedural law among the state laws has been recognized.
Criminal justice is the activities that a state imposes its punishment on criminals. Some of its purposes are to find out and to prove crime，to protect the public order and security of persons against crime. The powers of investigation，prosecution and adjudication are the state powers in criminal justice. Those powers，if used properly，can achieve aims of criminal justice as mentioned above; if abused，may violate individuals’ freedom and rights，even cause a lot of wrong convictions. To prevent the state power being abused，the criminal procedural law provides various restrictions on filing case，arrest and other coercive measures，prosecution，conviction，inter alia，those very strict procedural requirements on search and seizure. These requirements have played a very important role in protecting citizens’ fundamental rights. The international community has fully recognized the functions of criminal procedural law. To promote all states in the world enhancing human rights protection in criminal justice，the United Nations has made a number of documents，inter alia，the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights，which provides the fundamental principles of human rights protection in criminal justice. Among them，a lot of contents concern criminal procedure. Therefore it may conclude that the criminal procedure law has very close connection to human rights protection.
The middle of the 20th century witnessed many countries re-established on the ruins of democracy and rule of law their confidence in liberty，democracy，human rights and rule of law，and strengthened their determination to respect and protect the related value and system. To continue this strong development trend，the 21st century will be the century with further intensified protection of human rights，democracy and the rule of law. In this new century the economic globalization has appeared，legal coordination has been further promoted and become a new trend. In the criminal justice field，the international community has created criminal justice standards，which provide opportunity for countries to reduce their differences and create a balanced coordinated criminal justice system among them.
To view the China’s criminal justice system，we may see that the legislation concerning criminal procedural law is in the process of further improvement，and judicial reformation is also under way. The aims of the reformation and improvement are to ensure basic functions of criminal justice，namely safeguarding the public orders while intensifying human rights protection in criminal justice and promoting judicial efficiency. It is no doubt that the main tasks in developing criminal procedure law will be to make a comparison between China’s criminal procedure with that of international standards，to find out their differences，to make China’s laws be compatible with the international standards by improving China’s legal system and situation concerned.
In recent years，the academic research on criminal procedural law has been flourishing; controversial issue appeared one after another. Debate is strong on the theoretical and practical issues，such as judicial fairness，evidence system researches，promotion of judicial efficiency，adaptation of streamlined procedure，etc. The research on these theoretical and practical issues is being conducted very lively.
This textbook is compiled according to “the Criminal Justice Course Teaching Outline” set by the Education Ministry. The textbook has the following distinguishing features:
First，it was written in the context of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China. This law was made on the basis of the 1979 Criminal Procedure Law and the 1996 modified Criminal Procedure Law.
The law incorporated the research results of many years，solved various problems in criminal proceedings，met the needs in criminal justice in the new situation and reflected various changes of criminal justice.
Second，the textbook is a combination of theories and experiences of practice. It narrates the principles，systems，rules，and procedure of related laws. It may be used as a textbook of law schools and as a reference book for law enforcement. The criminal procedural law regulates the activities of criminal justice. Therefore，it should be practicable. Similarly，the criminal procedural law study，the academic course offered in law school should serve practice. To study this course well，students need not only learn the basic theory of criminal procedure law，but also combine the basic theory with the questions aroused in criminal justice. The purpose of study is to use the knowledge，namely，to use the principles，doctrines，rules in practising law，to promote the progress of China’s criminal justice.
Third，the textbook reflects some of the trend and achievements of China’s legislature，as well as judicial and academic research. As a textbook，it can not take in all of them，but those trend and achievements with wide recognition.
The 21st century is the new century. It is the time for China to carry out the principle，i.e. “to rule the country with law.” In the process of building the country with “rule of law”，the law teaching departments should bear the tasks of disseminating law knowledge and training. This textbook is one of the series of textbooks produced as the 21st century key course of national universities. It should be conducive to China’s law education. The authors are very pleased to be involved in this work. We hope this book may play a role，as a basis of the course，in promoting China’s criminal procedure teaching，encouraging academic research and judicial fairness.
Chen Guangzhong （Professor of Law）
China University of Political Science and Law
May，2012