RAZVOJ JAVNOG TUŽILAŠTVA U ZEMLJAMA ZAPADNE EVROPE / THE DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC PROSECUTION IN WESTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

Abstract

Achieving justice and protection of violated rights and interests had long been part of private sphere of injured individuals. As a means of compensation, blood revenge was available to them which often lead to the destruction of entire groups and families. Therefore, in Europe during the XII and XIII century, along with the establishment of the first states, work was done on the establishment of the public prosecutor's office as an instrument of state intervention in the criminal sphere and also restriction of the monopoly of coercion. In most European countries, the public prosecutor initially had the authority to represent state interests in court proceedings of public interest, so that over time the scope of work expanded to prosecution of perpetrators. This paper, based on comparative and textual method, will discuss the development of public prosecution in Europe within following Western European legal systems: Common Law, Romanian, German and Scandinavian from Middle Ages until modern era.