宋代众证定罪规则的历史考察与现代启示

A Historical Analysis of the Rules of“At least Three Witnesses Proved the Suspect Guilty”in Song Dynasty

宋代司法重视程序正义,在众证定罪之前,三次讯问之际,法司应向嫌犯出示书证、物证等证人证言以外的其他证据,传统众证定罪原则所强调的言词证据之间互相印证的既有模式因此发生变化。三问程序的创制,是古代言词证据规则的重要创新,实质上是对特殊人群免于刑讯特权的间接否定,即实施三问以后,嫌犯不再享有豁免掠治之特别关照。在三问前置、刑讯为辅的规则之下,宋代众证定罪证据规则经体系重构而实现自洽,对于改变以口供为中心的司法传统,构建各种证据相互印证的机制发挥了重要作用。

The Song Dynasty attached importance to procedural justice.Before at least three witnesses proved the suspect guilty,the suspect should be presented with documentary evidence,physical evidence and other evidence other than witness testimony during three interrogations.Therefore,the existing model of mutual confirmation between verbal evidence emphasized by the traditional principle of"at least three witnesses proved the suspect guilty"changed.The creation of the three interrogation procedures is an important innovation of the ancient rules of verbal evidence,which is essentially an indirect denial of the privilege of exempting special people from torture,that is,after the implementation of the"three interrogation procedures",suspects will no longer enjoy the special care of exemption from predation.Under the rule that three interrogation procedures are preceded and torture is supplemented,the evidence rule of"at least three witnesses prove the suspect guilty"in Song Dynasty is self-consistent after system reconstruction,which plays an important role in changing the inherent tradition of taking confession as the center and constructing various evidence mutual confirmation mechanisms.