JUDICIAL INQUIRY. – An inquiry that must be conducted before the arraignment of the accused when the crime is neither notorious nor entirely certain; it may be undertaken ex officio by the Ordinary or following a denunciation by the promoter of justice. The purpose of the inquiry is to avoid, as far as possible, criminal proceedings whenever there are no valid grounds or arguments for believing in the actual existence of a crime and the guilt of a particular person.
The inquiry may be: 1) general: that conducted by the Ordinary regarding the observance of laws by the faithful; 2) special: when it is carried out by a delegated judge for each individual denunciation. Judicial is the inquiry that must precede criminal adjudication, extrajudicial that which precedes the imposition of penal remedies. The inquisitor is bound by the same obligations as a judge and may not serve as a judge in any subsequent trial arising from the inquiry. The powers of the inquisitor are regulated by the Ordinary, though he enjoys considerable freedom of action in the exercise of his functions. Once the judicial inquiry is concluded, if the denunciation appears unfounded, the acts are placed in the secret archive; if there are only insufficient indications to initiate proceedings, the accused may be placed under surveillance and even interrogated; if, however, there are sufficient grounds to proceed with a criminal trial, the alleged offender is first cited and interrogated, and then the process is carried forward to the *correptio delinquentis* and the *instructio processus criminalis*.