Law: Penal Code (XLV of 1860)

Section: 302

1 (a) Confession ---Judicial Confession-Maxim confession facta in judicio omni probatione major est' (a confession made in judicial proceedings is of greater force than all proof)-Merely because a confession is retracted-Cannot make it necessarily involuntary----Proposition that a retracted confession cannot be believed unless corroborated by other evidence-Not a rule of law-Criterion for determining nature of confession.    The maxim Confessio facts in judicio omni probatlone major est' meaning that a confessor attitude in judicial proceedings is of greater force than all proof shows that it has always received great weight. It is so because a person accused of an offence inculpates himself and thus makes a statement not only against his own interests but one that is wore likely to take away his life or liberty, apparently there seems no reason why it shooed not be acted upon, because if as a consequence he is to suffer, the visitation has been brought about by himself. However, with the growth of law, the voluntary character of a confession which was always inherently there, began to be stressed with greater emphasis and now it is a universally, accepted rule that a confession in order to be acted upon must not only have been voluntarily made but must also be true. If a confession is not voluntarily made, it is deprived of that sanctity which persuades a Court of justice: to act upon it, but despite being voluntary, it may still not be true because a son may forward with a false confession in order to save his father and mother from the consequences of having committed an offence and similarly a father may always come forward and make a confession implicat ing himself in an offence which actually may have been admitted by his son. That is why it has been laid dawn that event when it is voluntary, it must also true. After all, why should a criminal make a confession to ensure his own destruction? It disturbs the mind of the Judge because the instinct of self-preservation and the desire to live is so essentially human that it is abnormal of him to invite self-annihilation but then mart also commits suicide which shows that there are…