gip

preliminary investigating judge

noun jeep Rare

Origin: Acronym for Giudice per le Indagini Preliminari (judge for preliminary investigations); established by the Italian Code of Criminal Procedure of 1989.

Usage Note

Gip (also written GIP) is an Italian legal acronym for the Giudice per le Indagini Preliminari, the judge who supervises the preliminary investigation phase of a criminal case — authorizing arrests, wiretaps, and search warrants, and deciding whether to commit the case to trial. It is invariable and masculine. This role has no direct equivalent in common-law systems; the closest is an examining magistrate or a judge who issues warrants.

Examples

"Il gip ha convalidato l'arresto dell'indagato."

Natural Translation

The preliminary investigating judge validated the arrest of the suspect.

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