방화죄에 있어 ‘공공위험’의 의미

This paper presents the definition of “public danger” in crimes of arson. “The crime of public danger” is a type with regard to a social benefit and protection of the law. The representative crime of public danger is arson. Article 166(2) and Article 167(1) of the Criminal Act require “causes public danger.” In other words, for example, Article 167(1) is required to ‘cause public danger’ as a constituent requirement providing, “A person who sets fire to and burns an object other than those objects mentioned in the preceding three Articles.” However, the definition of the ‘public danger’ is ambiguous. ‘Public’ and ‘danger’ are substantially abstract. The court has interpreted that ‘public danger’ in Article 167(1) implies “concerned states causing any danger to the life, body, and property of many unspecified persons.” However, it is still uncertain that ‘many unspecified persons’ respond to ‘public’ and ‘concerned states causing any danger’ are relative to ‘danger’ Furthermore, the definition of ‘public danger’ should be reexamined in regards to its fundamental punishment evidence because recently, a generalization of fire-resistant structures due to development of construction techniques means qualitative changes of crimes of arson. As a result, this paper explores the definition of ‘public danger’ and ‘concrete scope for establishing crime of public danger with respect to crimes of arson. To begin, this paper examines a legislative history in Germany and Japan with regards to the origin of ‘crime of public danger (Ⅱ) and the specific definition of ‘public danger’ (Ⅲ).