匪徒刑罰令與其附屬法令之制定經緯

The Proclamation of 'Bandit Punishment Ordinance' and its Subsidiary Legislations in Japanese Colonial Taiwan

日本統治開始三年後的明治31年（1898）11月，兒玉源太郎、後藤新平時代的臺灣總督府，突然以六三法所承認的緊急律令形式布告一個刑事法令，創造出一個不存在於內地的犯罪構成要件。「不問任何目的，凡以暴行或脅迫為達成其目的而聚眾者」均視為「匪徒之罪」。透過這個「匪徒刑罰令」，昨日的刑法強盜罪將成為今日的匪徒罪，臺灣總督府法院開始以溯及既往效力，向包含未遂者在內的數千名被告宣判死刑，因此該令成為整個帝國憲法之下，處死人數最多的法令，可謂國家刑罰權和總督律令權的象徵，亦體現委任立法的暴力。過去研究是將制定該令的主要目的視為匪徒等的反政府行為之鎮壓。本文亦繼承此看法，但是透過其政治背景或其條文構成的詳細觀察，本文以為尚能觀察到更多因素的影響力。公布該令當時，法院事實上依據刑法和刑事訴訟法，要求檢察官提供犯罪證明以裁判罪刑。加上由於英國的外交活動及明治天皇恩赦大權的介入，明治30年（1897）1月在臺灣布告大赦，溯及消滅了有關大赦發布以前之行為的刑法內亂罪、兇徒聚眾罪等，因此當局面臨處罰匪徒上的困難。總督府內少數幹部所準備的該令案，其目的很可能是為了突破這個困境。該令附屬法令，例如「重罪輕罪控訴豫納金規則」也有妨礙匪徒被告上訴的目的。因此應該可以說，該令及其附屬法令有另一個重要的目的，即以總督的委任立法權（律令權）拘束法院的判斷，事實上加重刑法所規定之刑罰，來擴大處死匪徒。故本文依據公文書（臺灣總督府檔案、公文類纂、日治法院檔案）等資料，試圖解明擬訂該令案的過程，並且說明該令在日治時期統治體制內的意義。

In November 1898, three years after Japan took over Taiwan, the Governor- General Office under Kodama Gentarō and Gotō Shinpei suddenly enacted a criminal ordinance (ritsurei), as allowed by Title 63 of 1896, creating a new type of actus reus that did not exist in Japan proper. 'Any collective act of violence or coercion done purposely regardless of its objective' would now constitute a crime of banditry. Under this new ordinance called 'Bandit Punishment Ordinance', what was previously deemed a robbery would now be considered an act of banditry. Thousands of the accused were executed, sometimes even for crimes committed before the ordinance was enacted, thus making it the harshest legislation under the constitution of imperial Japan. Enactment of this ordinance symbolized the power of the state and the Governor-General to punish and embodied violence through delegated legislation. Previous research attributes the main purpose of promulgating the ordinance to suppression of anti-government activities. While holding the same perspective, this study further examines the influence of other possible factors through scrutinizing the ordinance's political background, its process of legislation, and the configuration of its provisions. Sources of materials reviewed included Sotokufu Archives, Compilation of Documents of the Office of the Governor-General, and Taiwan Colonial Court Records Archives. It was found that before the ordinance was proclaimed, the colonial government in fact had difficulty punishing crimes of banditry through the ordinary legal process. The practice at that time required prosecutors to produce criminal evidence before the court according to the Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure. Moreover, under the intervention of British diplomacy and the constitutional right of Emperor Meiji to bestow official pardon, an amnesty was granted in Taiwan in January 1897 abolishing the punishment of those previously convicted of treason and banditry. It was against such background that the 'Bandit Punishment Ordinance' was promulgated and only a limited number of officials in the Governor-General Office participated in drafting the ordinance. Subsidiary legislations such as 'Regulations of Deposit for Criminal Appeal of Heavy and Light Crimes' were also enacted to prevent the accused from making appeals. Hence, the Ordinance itself and the subsidiary legislations all served a single purpose; that is, to sentence to death as many bandits as possible.