조선시대 연좌제의 실상 - 『연좌안』 분석을 중심으로 -

Abstract

19세기 후반 근대화 과정의 조선에서 그동안의 낡은 형률·형벌이 폐지되고, 근대적 형사사법제도가 본격적으로 도입되었다는 것은 주지의 사실이다. 이 때 일차

적으로 1894년 갑오개혁 때 폐지된 대표적인 규정을 두 가지 제시하면, 緣坐制(1894년 6월) 및 新刑·埈遭處軟刑(1894년 12월)의 폐지였다. 여기서 우리가 확인

할 수 있는 것은 참혹한 신체 절단형인 능지처참형과 함께 연좌제는 당시 우선적으로 폐지되어야 할 대표적인 낡은 악법으로 인식되고 있었다는 사실이다. 필자가 본고에서 주목하고자 하는 것은 이 가운데 '연좌제'의 문제이다.

그럼 연좌제란 무엇인가? 연좌제는 범죄인과 특정한 관계 에 있다는 이유만으로 죄 없는 사람까지 연대책임을 지게 하여 처벌하는 제도를 말한다. 연좌제는 엄밀

히 구분하면 가족·친족 등에 대한 혈연적 연좌(緣坐) 지역주민이나 동료 관리들을 함께 별주는 연좌(連坐) 등으로 나눌 수 있으며, 그 연원을 따지면 중국 고대 형법에까지 소급할 수 있을 것이다.

The principle of "Guilt by association" refers to a doctrine of punishment, which holds innocent people accountable on1y for the reason that they are involved in a certain level of relationship with a criminal offender. During the Joseon dynasty period, there were several cases of political incidents such as treasonous conspiracies or general insurrections in which this principle of "guilt by association" was applied. Such cases will be examined in this article, in order to determine how such principle was actually realized through the punishments of those political offenders, and also to define (or redefine) the nature of the political culture of Joseon, based upon such determination.

In this article, individual cases are analyzed in details, in order to find out how they were actually applied to Joseon-specific situations, rather than merely attempting to understand the contents of relevant institution, by dryly examining all the legal clauses and regulations related to the "guilt by association" principle. Also, other than the well known sources such as the "Annals of the Joseon dynasty" or Legal codes such as 『Dae"Myeong-ryul』 and 『Gyeong"guk Daejeon』, the 『List of Souls Guilty by Association("Yeonjwa-an/緣坐案")』, a document which was not previously fully examined and recently newly brought to my attention, was analyzed as a new source of information, to facilitate this study. This document contains detailed information of how the "guilt by association" principle was applied to the Joseon cases, since the days of King Yeongjo through the days of King Gojong.

The result of the examination shows that today"s perception of the "guilt by association" principle was not that very well founded upon empirical data. The negative view upon the Joseon political culture, which was formed upon such unfounded perception and also a general misconception that believed the guilt by association principle was abused and overused at the time, should be reconsidered in the future.