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Judge Ryu, Byŏng-Jin and his legal mind

  • DONG-A LAW REVIEW
  • 2010, (46), pp.1-33
  • Publisher : The Institute for Legal Studies Dong-A University
  • Research Area : Social Science > Law

HOH ILTAE 1

1동아대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Ryu, Byŏng-Jin was born in Ham-Ju, Hamkyŏngnam-Do in 1914. He was admitted to the law school of Meiji University in 1938 and graduated in 1943. After passing the bar exam in 1946, being educated at the Judicial Research and Training Institute, he was appointed as a probationary judicial officer in July in that same year. Then, in 1949, he was appointed as judge of the Woong-Jin Branch Court of the Seoul District Court. During the Korean War, after the fall of Seoul, he evacuated to Busan and served as a judge. As soon as the government was restored in Seoul, he returned to the city to resume his duties as a judge. He inevitably had to preside over the trials of people who took sides with the enemy under the North Korean Army during the Korean War(1950～1953). He tried his best to accept reality and focused on judging the cases by the theory of expectation-possibility of a legal act. He wrote about the mental agony he suffered during those times and published a book entitled “Judge’s distressed heart”. Without waivering from the pressure of public opinion inflamed by the Lee, Seung-Man's government and sympathizer, he handled several important cases, including the Cho, Bong-Am Case, according to the dictates of his conscience and in conformity with laws in complete consideration of truth and justice. He was a natural law philosopher believing in law according to justice. He recognized that laws and rules were inevitably influenced by social situation and cultural values of the times. He remained steadfastly grounded on the principle of the rule of law and advocated civil freedom and peace. He was against capital punishment, maintained humanitarian principles applying the Act on the punishment of people that took sides with the enemy. Also, he was a diligent scholar. He was the author of general and individual theories on criminal law, and wrote criminal procedure law. He exempted some people that took sides with the enemy under the North Korean Army from criminal liability by applying the theory of expectation-possibility of a legal act and found them not guilty of any crime. Therefore, for such reasons, I believe he was the foremost scholar and lawyer of his time.

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