The Role and Significance of the Presumption of Innocence in Secular and Church Courts

The article compares the role and significance of the presumption of innocence for secular and Church courts. Along with this, the problem of finding the truth as the goal and meaning of the trial is posed. It is shown that the judgment of secular court is formalized; it does not have a legislatively fixed task of seeking the truth. However, the concepts of “conscience” and “justice” are contained in procedural legislation. There is no presumption of innocence in a Church court, but the “judgment of conscience”, for which justice and the search for truth are fundamental, is in the first place. The conclusion is that in the sense of using concepts such as conscience, justice, and the search for truth, a spiritual court has a definite advantage over a secular court. This article was presented as a report at the Round Table “The Legacy of Bishop John (Sokolov) and Actual Problems of Church Law” organized by the Historical Society of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy and held May 15, 2018 in the Book Room of St. Petersburg Theological Academy.