AUSTRIJSKI ZAKON O KAZNENOM POSTUPKU IZ 1853. GODINE S OSVRTOM NA NJEGOVU ULOGU U POVIJESTI HRVATSKOG KAZNENOG PROCESNOG PRAVA.

On 30 October 1854 the Criminal Procedure Act of 29 July 1853 (furtheron: the 1853 ZKP) came into force in Croatia and Slavonia. Although this was a strikingly reactive law, having emerged in the era of open absolutism i.e the Bach regime, the act played an important role in the development of Croatian criminal procedure law. Until the time when the 1853 ZKP entered into force Croatia had no systematically regulated criminal procedure act and criminal procedure had been regulated by customary law. This fact speaks for the significance of this act. Although it was an act in the form of inquisitory criminal procedure and as such considered as a step backwards when compared to the Criminal Procedure Act of 1850, which was passed on the pattern of the 1808 French Law on criminal investigation it was at the same time quite progressive when compared to the then customary law. The author gives a short historical review of criminal procedure development in Croatia and Slavonia until 1850, focusing on the important work by Ivan Kitoniæ: Metodièna uputa u sudbeni postupak po obièajnom pravu slavnog Ugarskog kraljevstva. The article deals with issues of particular acts applicable in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and finally deals with the central issue i.e. criminal procedure for the Austrian Empire of 29 July 1853.Furtheron, the author extensively reviews on the course of criminal procedure laid by regulations of the 1853 ZKP reflecting on all crucial institutes and emphasizing the prior procedure, adversarial procedure and oral final discussion with delivering and awarding judgement. Finally, the author considers the way the 1853 ZKP influenced development of Croatian criminal procedure law by connecting herein the basic institutes of the 1853 ZKP with crucial institutes of the 1997 Criminal Procedure Act and the 2008 Criminal Procedure Act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]