십계명 제9계에 대한 형법적 고찰

A Study on the Ninth Commandment of Decalogue in the Aspect of Criminal Laws - You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor -

It is the fact that falseness and affectation currently thrives in our community rather than honesty and truth. Alleged fraudulent treatises on the stem cell by Dr. Hwang s research team indicate falseness, distrust and even fraudulent climate of our contemporary society. The ninth Commandment in the Decalogue says You shall not give false testi- mony against your neighbor”(Exodus 20:16). The Ten Commandments, which were a norm of life or the laws given by God to Israelites, used to function as a moral code for mankind and still continue to work as a norm of life for human beings. I think that rediscovering of the ninth Commandment and study of the Divine Providence of righteous God makes a contribution for elimination of ills of the contemporary soci- ety of Korea marked by falseness. I think that the ninth Commandment not only pro- hibits false testimony in court but also all dishonest words and deeds to one s neighbors. Representative crimes which is punished by court in accordance with Korean criminal laws in connection with false acts, are false testimony, false accusation, for- gery, fraud, destruction of evidence, concealment of criminal, etc. I think, however, that it is not sufficient even though our criminal laws punish false acts with many regulations as shown above. In order to make clear real facts of falsehood and make a society where justice and truth prevails, I think most important things are that every member of our soci- ety must have a strong will to live an honest life and we should lay the foundation of social climate to preserve the firm determination to accomplish it.