伪证与16、17世纪英国民众的法律观念

Perjury and Legal Idea of Ordinary People in Early Modern England

在16、17世纪的英国,证人是民众参与法律事务的重要途径。但在参与作证的过程中,时有伪证出现,特别是在一些谋杀或者巫术案件中。一方面,伪证的出现反映了当时普通民众在运用法律过程中并非严格依照法律条文,而是根据个人是非观念和传统道德标准行事,带有浓厚的“人治”特征。另一方面,随着司法鉴定制度的逐渐科学化和政府立法对伪证的严格禁止,英国近代的法律审判体系趋向理性,伪证逐渐减少,普通民众的法律意识也在逐渐增强,为近代英国法治社会的形成奠定了良好的基础。

Witness became to be an important part of early modern England criminal trial procedure. Sometimes they would tell something untruth before the jury, which called perjury. Through investigation two major kinds of perjury and their causes, we can discuss the verdict according to the conscience and ethics. The perjury reflected the ordinary people＇s legal idea and their attitude to law which showed on an strong subjective face on one hand. On the other hand, according to the development of the science and the prohibition of the statute law, the perjury decreased, which demonstrated the rational trend of ordinary people＇s legal idea.