The Study Of "Secret Investigation" Seen In The Longquan Judicial Archives(1912-1927)

The word “secret investigation” frequently appeared in various cases in the Second series of Longquan Judicial Archives(1912-1927).According to statistics,34 cases were found in 180 cases,including 5 civil cases,22 criminal cases,and 7 cases involving both civil and criminal cases.In terms of the types of applicable cases,there are mainly three categories: money and debt disputes,personal injury cases and mountain property disputes.The “secret investigation” mainly starts in the investigation stage,the trial stage,the execution stage and the appeal stage.The “secret investigation” in the investigation stage is mainly to confirm the existence of disputes,but a few civil cases tend to find out the case facts at this stage.The “secret investigation” in the trial stage is more in-depth,mainly for the investigation of an unidentified fact in the trial;There was only one “secret inspection”in the execution stage,which was mainly a secret investigation of the property status of the parties concerned.The “close examination” at the appellate stage is similar to the “close examination”at the trial.There are three starting situations of “secret investigation”,which can be divided into the application of the sheriff,the application of the executive and the application of the party concerned.The active application of the sheriff is mainly based on the following reasons: First,The law stipulates that the sheriff bears a certain burden of proof;Second,Judges are influenced by the traditional way of evidence investigation;Third,the judges’ professional quality is not high,and the evidence investigation level is limited in the Period of the Republic of China;The executor’s active application is mainly due to the high efficiency of secret investigation;The application of the party mainly occurs when it thinks that the strength gap between the party and the other party is great or that the sheriff is not due diligence and punctuality,so as to win the lawsuit.There are three main ways to use “secret inspection” : secret consultation with neighboring villages,on-site inspection and secret inspection,the latter two are the main ways.“Close consultation with village neighbors” is a method of obtaining evidence,and the evidence obtained is attributed to “witness testimony”,which has two characteristics.First,testimony is of non-equivalence.The subjects are mainly witnesses,elders and neighbors,and the testimonies of the three are in descending order.Second,testimony has priority.Compared with other forms of evidence such as oral testimony,witness testimony will be adopted by the sheriff before others.In terms of proof power,the nature of the case is different,and the proof power of the testimony obtained from secret investigation in mountain property dispute cases is significantly higher than that of money and debt disputes and personal disputes.In order to protect the respondents,the identities of the respondents are kept strictly confidential in their reports,and compulsory measures are not allowed to be taken against the respondents or forced to testify in court during the investigation.“Secret investigation” is a way of arrest,and shows different characteristics from traditional and modern arrest measures.First,compulsory measures are not only applicable to criminal cases,but also applicable to civil cases.Second,the scope of people who can be arrested is expanded,and people generally have a significant interest in the case;Third,people must seek permission from the authorities to make arrests.This is related to the geographical environment of Longquan County,the efficiency of judicial organs and other factors.“Secret investigation” by the public will inevitably affect the lives of others,but it can improve the efficiency of case investigation,and because the judicial organs are extremely cautious in the authorization,the implementation of certain supervision measures,but also to a large extent reduce the adverse impact of this behavior.Through the analysis of the aforesaid “secret inspection”,the legal nature and function of “secret inspection” are finally obtained.In terms of its nature,“secret investigation” evolved from a simple means of investigation in the traditional society into a kind of litigation behavior,which benefited from the perfection of litigation law in the Republic of China.In terms of its functions,First,through secret investigation,the parties are forced to make amends for their behavior afterwards,which just exposes the truth of the matter.Second,secret investigations are highly efficient and can uncover facts that public investigations cannot.Finally,secret investigation has little impact on social order,which is a kind of protection for local customs and the reputation of respondents.