DISPUTES IN GERMAN LITERATURE REGARDING THE UNTRUE EVIDENCE PROVIDED BY A PERSON ACCUSED OF AN ALLEGED CRIME

Abstract

An attempt is being made to outline the historical evolution of the debate in the German doctrine concerning the right of the accused to lie. The considerations begin with a claim that this issue was not solved during the codification work carried out in the nineteenth century, and had consequently given rise to an ample discussion among German lawyers, that resulted in the formulation of three major positions. According to the first one, the accused in the penal process should be obliged to confess the truth. The opposite view stressed that the accused could resort to lying as long as he did not infringe the rights of others. And only recently (R. Torka) has originated a conception that under certain circumstances, namely when infringing the rights of the others is the sine que non condition for the escaping of criminal responsibility, a so-called right to lie of the accused has to be taken into account. The arguments brought to life by German lawyers may also considerably enrich the debate over the same issue in Poland.