– Essay on the role of truth in the legal order –

ARGUMENTUM: Judges in search of truth

Abstract

„Innocence" need never be proven, as it is presumed. What needs to be proven is „guilt", and that beyond any doubt. When exercising his right of defence, the accused does not prove his „innocence", but counters the evidence adduced in support of his guilt by appropriate means of equal force to those available to the accuser (principle of „equality of arms").

„Quid iustitia sine veritate?"/„What is justice without truth?" The answer seems self-evident: lacking truth, the judicial decision is a generator of chaos instead of a guarantor of order; a source of war instead of an instrument of peace.

Judges must always remember that they are not only legitimate inhabitants of the praetorium, but also members of the city. They can reconcile the two only by serving the truth; not by its pompous proclamation, but by its constant, sincere and tireless pursuit.

Keywords: judges, truth, legal syllogism, national identity, innocence, evidence, doubt, suspicion