英国警察最初与普通公民一样,基本上不具有对犯罪嫌疑人的讯问权。司法判例以及20世纪前期发展的法官规则认可了事实上存在的警察讯问权并确立了基本的适用规则。由普通法调整的状况持续到20世纪80年代,制定法在规范警察讯问程序的同时也在一定程度上对公民的沉默权予以限制。警察讯问权总体上不断扩张,在这个过程中,普通法和制定法都努力保持警察侦查权与公民权利之间的平衡。 British police initially, like ordinary citizens, basically did not have the right to interrogate suspects. Judicial jurisprudence and the rules of judges that developed in the early twentieth century recognized the de facto presence of police interrogation and established the basic rules of application. The adjustment by the common law lasted until the 1980s, and the statutory law regulates police interrogation procedures to a certain extent while limiting the right to silence of citizens. As a general expansion of police interrogation powers, both common law and statutory law strive to maintain a balance between police investigative powers and civil rights in the process.