Abstract

In this article the author discusses the importance of the principle of direct examination of evidence by the judge in the criminal procedure in connection with the last changes in the CCP. The analysis of the issue is primarily related to the amendment of Art. 167, 377, 392, 393 § 3 of the CCP. A lot of controversies were aroused, in particular, by the change of the latter of those provisions, which allowed for the introduction of private documents gathered directly for the purposes of criminal proceedings. The author begins the analysis by referring to the procedural principles laid down in criminal procedural law. Further on, the most important changes in the CCP introduced by the 2015 and 2016 amendments , which had the greatest impact on shaping the principle of direct examination of evidence by the judge in criminal procedure, are discussed in detail. The author compares those changes and tries to answer the question whether the catalog of exceptions to the above principle in Polish criminal law is not so wide that it has evolved into its opposite whereby indirect evidence prevails. As a result, the author formulates final conclusions and puts forward de lege ferenda postulates.