Pozycja procesowa oskarżonego jako osobowego źródła dowodowego w Polsce i Anglii – rozważania prawno-porównawcze

The article presents the position of the accused in criminal trial as a personal source of evidence and its procedural consequences. This position is one of the main differences between the adversarial and continental models of procedural criminal law which will be presented on the example of legal systems of Poland and Germany, and England. First of all, the scope of the right to silence and its possible limitations will be discussed – when the accused has no wish to become a personal source of evidence at all. Then, if the accused decides to give up this right, a question arises as to the form by which he makes statements in criminal trial. One of the forms of breaking the silence is e.g. confessing (either in trial or outside trial). Finally, the relationship with other elements of the criminal proceedings will be presented, related to the defendant’s trial position, which influence the procedural position of the accused. The considerations will be summarized by the attempt to answer a question, in which legal tradition the position of the accused is in fact more favorable and why it is not possible to give a definite answer to such a question.