What does inquisition actually mean?
Inquisition is the English term for a legal process called inquisitio in Latin that originates in the first century BC. This had no particular connotations with the church or heresy and was a widely used procedure in Europe. It still forms the foundation of, for instance, the French criminal justice system. What happens is that a magistrate, usually a professional jurist, is assigned to investigate an allegation of criminality by calling for witnesses and collecting evidence. Once he has done this, he can decide whether or not there is sufficient evidence to bring a suspect to trial. The trial is conducted in the appropriate court for the crime with the magistrate usually acting as prosecutor. This differs from the Anglo/American system where crimes are investigated by the police who do not take any part in any resulting court proceedings except as witnesses.
