LEGAL REGULATION OF REQUIREMENTS FOR LAY PARTICIPATION IN A TRIAL IN CROATIA FROM 1848 TO 2018

Abstract

Starting from the fact that the participation of citizens in the decision-making process is not only realized in the legislative and executive, but also in the judicial power, this paper discusses the requirements (that is, qualifications) for lay participation in a trial. The introduction of particular requirements, and particularly their increased number, significantly can influence the ability of lay citizens to participate in a trial, limiting the number of those who can meet these requirements and reducing the ability to materialize important role of participation that does not only contain the vital imperative in the contemporary constitutional democratic state for democratization of the judiciary, but also an important educational and integrative component. Having in mind the fact that in some periods of Croatian history lay citizens participated as jurors in a jury trial and then as lay judges in mixed tribunals, in the effort for a complete and systematic approach to this matter, the paper examines relevant regulations and available literature on the legal regulation of requirements for lay participation in a trial in Croatia in the period from 1848 to 2018 to explore the possible impact of previous regulations on this matter on the existing regulation, as well as the possible improvement of the latter.