Parket van het hof van beroep, Brussel / Parquet de la Cour d'appel de Bruxelles

The creation of the Openbaar Ministerie / Ministère public (also known as parket / parquet or staande magistratuur / magistrature debout)(‘Public Prosecutor’s Office’) dates back to the French judicial reforms of 1800. The institution is independent from the executive and judiciary, although it carries out duties related to both branches. Its mission is to defend public order and serve the general public interest. The main task of the Public Prosecutor’s Office is to handle civil and criminal cases. In criminal cases, the Public Prosecutor’s Office is involved in the investigation and the eventual trial – from the criminal investigation (assessment of violations of the law, identifying and tracing perpetrators and witnesses, further investigation and so on) over the decision to prosecute (or to abate legal proceedings, to settle amicably etc) to the criminal prosecution in court and the supervision of the execution of the pronounced sentence. In civil cases, the Public Prosecutor’s Office may offer advice, if required to keep public order. In addition, the Public Prosecutor’s Office also supervises the proper functioning of the court system, and it is entitled to advise the political authorities. The parket van de procureur des Konings serves as public prosecution at the Courts of first instance, the Commercial Courts and the Police Courts. The procureur des Konings is assisted by a first substitute and a substitute. Today, there are 27 prosecution offices of this type in Belgium. One level above, the procureur-generaal is in charge of the Parket-Generaal (General Prosecutor’s Office) and the Auditoraat-Generaal. These offices act as public prosecutors at the Hoven van Beroep (Courts of Appeal) and the Arbeidshoven (Courts of Labour). There are five procureurs-generaal in total, assisted by first substitutes and substitutes. The highest level is composed of the College van procureurs-generaal, created in 1997. One year later, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office was added, in charge of e.g. cross-border cases and organised crime. The College van procureurs-generaal is advised by the Raad van procureurs des Konings and the Raad van arbeidsauditeurs.

The archives of the prosecution offices are of great importance for historical research. Apart from general series bearing witness, for example, to the advisory function of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, they often contain comprehensive documentation files on various aspects of Belgian society. Also interesting are the files of cases for which no further legal action was taken (‘sepodossiers’). There are also series of specific documents regarding the Occupation during the Second World War (e.g. series of received records, reports of the German authorities, notitieregisters), archives regarding the sequester policy after both world wars and others. For genealogists too, the archives of the Public Prosecutor’s Office are relevant – cfr. notably the files regarding name changes, judicial declarations of death.

C. Martens, Inventaris van het archief van het parket van de procureur des Konings van Brussel, Brussel, ARA-AGR, in press. Searching by name is possible by means of the series of notitieregisters and the accompanying alphabetical indexes.