Murder weapon - Kyouki

A tool capable of killing or injuring a person. There is a distinction between weapons that are inherently designed to kill or injure people, such as firearms and swords, and weapons that are intended to kill or injure people depending on how they are used, such as iron bars, kitchen knives, and knives. Based on this distinction, the Public Security Police Law and the Administrative Execution Law formerly referred to weapons that are inherently designed as "weapons" and weapons that are intended to kill or injure people depending on how they are used, and collectively referred to them as weapons in the broad sense. Although the current law does not make such a distinction in terms, the term "deadly weapon" is used in many laws (Article 208-3 of the Penal Code, Article 40, item 3 of the Subversive Activities Prevention Law, Article 1 of the Law Concerning the Punishment of Violence, etc., Article 1, paragraph 1, item 2, Article 2, item 1 of the Law Concerning the Prevention and Disposal of Theft, etc., Article 212, paragraph 2, item 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, etc.). The definition of a deadly weapon in these laws is generally interpreted as including not only a weapon of its nature, but also a weapon of its usage. Among these, the definition of a deadly weapon and its limiting cases are particularly problematic in the case of the crimes of assembling with a deadly weapon and the crime of assembling together with a deadly weapon under Article 208-3 of the Penal Code.

[Tetsuro Nawa]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

人を殺傷しうる器具。凶器には、銃砲・刀剣類のように、本来人を殺傷するために作製された性質上の凶器と、鉄棒・包丁・ナイフのように、その用法によっては人を殺傷しうる用法上の凶器の区別がある。この区別を前提として、かつて治安警察法や行政執行法などは、性質上の凶器を「戎器(じゅうき)」、用法上の凶器を「凶器」とよんでおり、両者をあわせて広義の凶器とよんでいた。現行法では前記のような用語上の区別を行っていないが、凶器（兇器）の用語は多くの法律で用いられている（刑法208条の3のほか、破壊活動防止法40条3号、暴力行為等処罰ニ関スル法律1条、盗犯等ノ防止及処分ニ関スル法律1条1項2号、2条1号、刑事訴訟法212条2項2号など）。これらの法律における凶器の意義については、性質上の凶器のみならず、用法上の凶器をも含むものと解するのが一般である。このうち、とくに刑法第208条の3の凶器準備集合罪・凶器準備結集罪において、凶器の意義とその限界事例がとくに問題となる。

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