The judicial and police systems

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The judicial system is not regulated by the Criminal Procedure Code, but by special laws. In addition to the principles laid down in Articles 101-110 (of the Constitution), the judicial system is regulated by Royal Decree 12 of 1941, better known as the Law on the Judiciary (Ordinamento Giudiziario). This legal text has undergone numerous changes over the years. The most recent one has already been mentioned, i.e. the institution of the single judge enacted by Decree Law 51 of 1998.

Among the other laws that regulate the judicial system in Italy, mention should be made of Royal Decree 511 of 1946, which guarantees the independence and impartiality of judges, and Law 195 of 1958, which regulates the Consiglio Superiore della Magistratura, the self-governing organ of judges and prosecutors, which are embodied in the same body, i.e. the Magistracy.

The Italian criminal law system is divided into various judicial bodies. At the first instance level these include the lower court (Pretura), the Tribunal and the Court of Assizes. While the lower court has a mono judge, the Tribunal and the Court of Assizes are collective bodies. Nevertheless, with the exception of a few minor changes, the procedures used by all three of these first instance judicial bodies are more or less the same.

With the coming into force of the single first instance judge, the lower courts have disappeared and became part of the Tribunals which, in turn, have become mono bodies.