事实认定中自由心证的作用及其制约

Role and Restriction of Inner Conviction in Judgment of Fact

自由心证是现代大部分国家采取的事实认定规则。其强调法官在进行裁判时,基于经过审理的全部资料以及各种情况,依其知识经验和良心自由判断所形成的心证而认定主要事实。当事人提出的事实内容约束着法官自由心证的范围,而法官的自由心证决定着判决事实的认定,两者是相辅相成的。依据自由心证原则并不是说法官对事实的认定具有完全的主观性,法律需要对自由心证进行制约,自由心证必须在法律规定的范围内,才能保证判决事实认定的正确性。自由心证的制约包括外部制约和内部制约。外部制约包括司法独立以及法官资格和法官素质;内部制约包括诉讼程序、心证公开、判决书理由说明制度和文书公开制度等四个方面。

Most countries adopt modern inner conviction system,which emphasizes that the judge identifies the main facts,based on all the information and all kinds of situation,and based on the knowledge and conscience of the inner conviction.The fact that the parties have proposed limits the scope of the judge＇s inner conviction,while the judge＇s inner conviction determines the determination of the fact,and the two are complementary to each other.According to the principle of the inner conviction,it is not true to say that the judge is entirely subjective.The law restricts the inner conviction to ensure the correctness of the judgment of fact.The inner conviction must be within the limits prescribed by law so as to ensure the correctness of the fact determination.The restriction of the inner conviction can be divided into two parts,including external and internal constraints.External constraints contain judicial independence,qualification and quality of the judge.Internal constraints include the procedure,the disclosure of the inner conviction,the reason and public system of the judgment.