Magistrate who conducts the investigation of a crime before trial: he gathers evidence, questions suspects and witnesses, and hands the case to the prosecutor. In Russia the post of examining magistrate was born in 1860, separating the investigation from the police, and the 1864 reform removed from the courts the function of investigating. In the book, it is the trade of Porfiry Petrovich, who begins with distant matters in order to stun the one being questioned.
Term