刑事诉讼的实质是国家刑罚权的行使。通过刑罚权的行使,追究犯罪人的犯罪行为。而这个为世所公认的法律和司法制度,却是由中世纪欧洲君主专制时代的纠问主义诉讼制度所确立的。“刑事诉讼”在西方国家法律中通常表述为刑事“程序”(Crimina—Procedure),而在大多数东方国家却被视作“诉讼”。绝不能轻易地认为这仅仅是用词上的不同,正是由于这种不同,而在深层意义上深刻反映了不同的民族历史传统和思维旨趣。由此又可窥见东西方国家法律制度的差异。从功能上说,法文化应该是一个较为宽泛的概念。首先,它直接与立法、法律制度和司法制度密切关联,后者又成为构成法文化系统的渊薮和最基本载体。各个国家和不同时期的诉讼制度有其自身深刻的历史原因 The essence of criminal procedure is the exercise of the right of punishment by the state. Through the exercise of the right of punishment, investigate the perpetrator’s criminal behavior. However, this accepted law and judicial system of the world was established by an anarchist litigation system in the era of European monarchy in the Middle Ages. “Criminal procedure” is commonly referred to as Crimina-Procedure in Western law but is considered “lawsuit” in most Eastern countries. It must not be easily assumed that this is merely a difference in terms. It is precisely because of this difference that profoundly reflects the different historical traditions and thinking interests of the nation. From this we can get a glimpse of the differences between the legal systems of East and West countries. Functionally speaking, legal culture should be a relatively broad concept. First, it is directly linked to legislation, the legal system and the judicial system, and the latter becomes the most basic and fundamental carrier of the legal culture system. The litigation system in different countries and different periods has its own profound historical reasons