Belgian Code of Criminal Procedure
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| Belgian Code of Criminal Procedure | |
|---|---|
 | |
| French Parliament (1808–1815) Belgian Federal Parliament (1830–) | |
| Territorial extent |  Belgium |
| Enacted by | French Parliament |
| Assented to | 1808 |
| Summary | |
| This code governs the manner of conducting criminal investigations and prosecutions, as well as the jurisdiction and procedure of the criminal courts and tribunals of Belgium. | |
| Status: In force | |
The Belgian Code of Criminal Procedure (Dutch: Wetboek van Strafvordering, French: Code d'Instruction Criminelle, German: Strafprozessgesetzbuch) is a code of law in the country of Belgium, of which the different parts were formally adopted in November and December 1808 (before Belgium existed as a sovereign state). The code is currently still in force. The Code of Criminal Procedure governs the powers and duties of judicial police attributed to certain public and judicial officers, the manner in which to conduct criminal investigations and prosecutions, as well as the criminal jurisdiction of the courts and tribunals of the Belgian judiciary and the applicable rules of criminal procedure. As such, the Code of Criminal Procedure is one of the important codes of law in the Belgian legal system.[1][2]
Matters such as the organization itself of the courts and tribunals however, are governed by the Belgian Judicial Code.[1]
The Code of Criminal Procedure was adopted when Belgium did not exist yet as a sovereign state; at the time it was still part of the First French Empire. The different parts of the code were passed by the French Parliament, and subsequently promulgated by Napoleon as the Emperor of the French at the end of 1808. The code was one of the five codes of law implemented by Napoleon.[2]
The code remained in force when Belgium became part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815, and when Belgium became a sovereign state after the Belgian Revolution of 1830–1831.
In 1878, a law was adopted containing the Preliminary title of the Code of Criminal Procedure. This title added a number of general provisions regarding criminal proceedings to the code.[3]
The Code of Criminal Procedure has been amended many times since.