운동경기중 발생한 상해와 형사책임

Criminal Liability with Regard to Injury during a Sports Game

In case of injury during a sports game, to punish the offender without exception might lead to withering of sports activities,whereas to get the offender exempted on the mere ground that injury occurred in the course of a sports game might cause plummeting of either legal stability or law-abiding spirit. So, it is vital to draw a bright line between criminal liability and moral obligation with regard to injury during a sports game. Scholars suggest the theory of victim s consent, the theory of tolerated danger, the theory of social reasonableness or the theory of non-legal issue as sources of justification to limit criminal liability. Each theory has its own merits and demerits. In order to punish the offender who inflicted injury by negligence during a sports game, general requirements of infliction of injury by negligence occurrence of injury, ― causal relationship between offender s act and injury, breach of objective duty of care,etc.― should be met. Objective duty of care can be derived from statutes, past practices, social norm, logic, empirical rule or court decisions. In a sports game however, rules of the game may be the most important source of objective duty of care. As rules of the game enumerate matters that require attention in the entire course of a sports game,player s act against these rules can be treated breach of objective.