Journal of Legal Research

Journal of Legal Research

The Nature and Probative Value of Confession and the Resolution of Conflicting Confessions in Afghan Law

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Assistant professor, Department of Private Law, Faculty of Law, Avicenna University, Kabul, Afghanistan.
Abstract
Confession (iqrār) constitutes one of the most significant forms of evidence in legal proceedings, defined jurisprudentially as "an individual's acknowledgment of a right to the detriment of oneself and to the benefit of another." This article critically examines the nature, probative force, and evidentiary value of confession, with particular attention to the possibility of conflicts arising between multiple confessions. The analysis proceeds in two stages: First, it identifies and evaluates the four necessary conditions for such conflicts to arise: (1) the existence of at least two pieces of evidence, (2) the logical incompatibility of their implications, (3) the unity of subject matter, and (4) the concurrent probative force of the evidence. Second, the possibility of conflicts between confessions is assessed against these conditions, demonstrating that no conflict can arise between the confession of a claimant and that of a respondent due to the absence of condition three (unity of subject matter). Regarding conflicts between multiple respondents’ confessions, the study contrasts three jurisprudential approaches: (1) application of tasāquṭ (mutual nullification), (2) resolution by drawing lots (qurʿah), and (3) equal division of liability among confessing parties - concluding that the third approach is more legally and logically justified.
Keywords

  • Ākhūnd Khurāsānī, Muḥammad Kāẓim ibn Ḥusayn. Kifāyat al-Uṣūl. Tehran: n.p., 1985. (in Arabic)
  • al-Muʾmin al-Muḥāmī, Ḥusayn. Naẓariyyat al-Ithbāt: al-Qawāʿid al-ʿĀmmah wa al-Iqrār wa al-Yamīn. 2nd ed. Baghdad: n.p., 2016. (in Arabic)
  • al-Sanhūrī, ʿAbd al-Razzāq Aḥmad. al-Wasīṭ fī Sharḥ al-Qānūn al-Madanī al-Jadīd. 3rd ed. Beirut: al-Ḥalabī Legal Publications, 2011. (in Arabic)
  • ʿAmīd Zanjānī, ʿAbbās ʿAlī. Legal Maxims. 5th ed. Tehran: SAMT, 2014. (in Persian)
  • ʿAmrawānī, Raḥmān. Conflict of Evidence in Civil Matters. 1st ed. Tehran: Fikr Sāzān, 2011. (in Persian)
  • Anṣārī, Murtazā. Farāʾid al-Uṣūl. 9th ed. Qom: Islamic Thought Forum, n.d. (in Persian)
  • Ayyūb, ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib. Adillat al-Ithbāt wa Awjuh Buṭlānihā. 1st ed. Cairo: National Center for Legal Publications, 2009. (in Arabic)
  • Bahrāmī, Bahrām. Essentials of Evidence in Litigation. 1st ed. Tehran: Negāh-e Bīneh, 2008. (in Persian)
  • Barīkh Ḥūriyyah & Bālah Kanzah. “Sulṭat al-Qāḍī fī Taqdīr Adillat al-Ithbāt fī al-Mawād al-Madanīyah.” Master’s Thesis, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Mīrah University, Tehran, 2016. (in Arabic)
  • Bayhaqī, Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī. Tāj al-Maṣādir. Tehran: Hādī ʿĀlamzādah, 1987. (in Persian)
  • Center for Islamic Information and Documentation. Encyclopedia of Principles of Jurisprudence. 4th ed. Qom: Islamic Sciences and Culture Academy, 2013. (in Persian)
  • Dehkhodā, ʿAlī Akbar. Loghatnāmeh [Dictionary]. Tehran: University of Tehran, 1994. (in Persian)
  • Emāmī, Sayyed Ḥasan. Civil Law. 15th ed. Tehran: Islāmiyyah Bookstore, 2015. (in Persian)
  • Ḥāʾirī, ʿAbd al-Karīm. Durar al-Fawāʾid. Qom: Muḥammad Mūʾmin Qummī, n.d. (in Arabic)
  • Jaʿfarī Langarūdī, Muḥammad Jaʿfar. Encyclopedia of Islamic Legal Sciences. 3rd ed. Tehran: Ganj-e Dānish, 2002. (in Persian)
  • Kātwzīyān, Nāṣir. Proof and the Means of Proof. 9th ed. Tehran: Mīzān, 2016. (in Persian)
  • Khalāf, ʿAbd al-Wahhāb. ʿIlm Uṣūl al-Fiqh. Damascus: n.p., 1992. (in Arabic)
  • Madanī, Sayyid Jalāl al-Dīn. Evidence in Litigation. 5th ed. Tehran: Pāydār, 2000. (in Persian)
  • Moʿīn, Muḥammad. Persian Dictionary. 4th ed. Tehran: Amīr Kabīr, 2008. (in Persian)
  • Muḥammadī, Abū al-Ḥasan. Foundations of Islamic Legal Reasoning (Uṣūl al-Fiqh). 53rd ed. Tehran: University of Tehran Press, 2013. (in Persian)
  • Muḥaqqiq Dāmād, Sayyid Muṣṭafā. Legal Maxims (3): Judicial Section. 6th ed. Tehran: Center for Islamic Science Publications, 2013. (in Persian)
  • Muḥaqqiq Dāmād, Sayyid Muṣṭafā. Topics in the Principles of Jurisprudence. 3rd ed. Tehran: Center for Islamic Science Publications, 2004. (in Persian)
  • Mūsawī Bujnūrdī, Sayyid Ḥasan. Legal Maxims, Vol. 3. 2nd ed. Qom: Ismāʿīliyyān Institute, 1935. (in Persian)
  • Muẓaffar, Muḥammad Riḍā. Uṣūl al-Fiqh. 5th ed. Qom: Islamic Publishing Institute, n.d. (in Arabic)
  • Najafī, Muḥammad Ḥasan. Jawāhir al-Kalām fī Sharḥ Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām, Vol. 35. 6th ed. Tehran: Islamic Printing House, 1978. (in Arabic)
  • Qāfī, Ḥusayn & Sharīʿatī Farānī, Saʿīd. Applied Principles of Jurisprudence. 4th ed. Qom: SAMT & Research Institute of Hawzah and University, 2016. (in Persian)
  • Rasūlī, ʿAbd al-Ḥusayn. Evidence in Afghan Law. 1st ed. Kabul: Farhang, 2014. (in Persian)
  • Reẓwānī, ʿAlī Aṣghar. Comparative Principles of Jurisprudence. 1st ed. Qom: Dhawī al-Qurbā, 2008. (in Persian)
  • Rowshan, Muḥammad & Ṣādiqī, Muḥammad. Legal Encyclopedia of Family Law. 1st ed. Tehran: Jangal, 2016. (in Persian)
  • Ṣabrī al-Saʿdī, Muḥammad. Evidence in Civil and Commercial Matters. ʿAyn Malīlah: Dār al-Hudā, 2009. (in Arabic)
  • Ṣadr, Muḥammad Bāqir. Durūs fī ʿIlm al-Uṣūl. 5th ed. Qom: Islamic Publishing Institute, n.d. (in Arabic)
  • Sarkhānī, Muṣīb & Mahbūbī, Nargis. Jurisprudential and Legal Study of the Rule of Confession. 1st ed. Tehran: Majd, 2015. (in Persian)
  • Shahīdī, Mahdī. “Non-Simple Confession.” Judicial Law Review, 55(1), 1991, 40–56. (in Persian)
  • Shams, ʿAbdullāh. Advanced Civil Procedure. 29th ed. Tehran: Dārak, 2016. (in Persian)
  • Shawkānī, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī. Irshād al-Fuḥūl ilā Taḥqīq al-Ḥaqq min ʿIlm al-Uṣūl. Beirut: Muḥammad Ṣubḥī ibn Ḥasan Ḥallāq, 1421 AH. (in Arabic)
  • Subḥānī Tabrīzī, Jaʿfar. al-Mūjaz fī Uṣūl al-Fiqh. 14th ed. Qom: Imam al-Ṣādiq Institute, 2008. (in Arabic)
  • Ṭihrānī Ḥāʾirī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm. al-Fuṣūl al-Ghurawīyah fī al-Uṣūl al-Fiqhīyah. Qom: n.p., 1984. (in Arabic)
  • ʿŪdah, Rashīd. “The Legal Authority of Confession in Sharia and Law.” Master’s Thesis, An-Najah National University, Nablus, 2003. (in Arabic)
  • Ẓarīf, Muḥammad ʿĀlam. Means of Proof in Civil Claims. Kabul: Supreme Court, 1990. (in Persian)
  • Zeraat, ʿAbbās & Mottaqī Ardakānī, Omīd. “Conflict of Criminal Evidence: Consequences and Solutions.” Islamic Jurisprudence and Law Studies, 7(13), 2015, 66–82. (in Persian)
  • Zeraat, ʿAbbās. “The Rule of Casting Lots (Qarʿa).” Law Quarterly, 40(101), 2010, 91–107. (in Persian)
  • Zuhaylī, Wahbah. Uṣūl al-Fiqh al-Islāmī. Damascus: n.p., 1418 AH. (in Arabic)