The Position of Judge’s Knowledge in Proving Criminal Matters in Iranian Law

One of the most important topics with a significant effect on the manifestation of legal justice is a matter regarding proving grounds, which the sentence legislator is required to explain with more clarity. The Islamic punishment law, approved in 1392 (2013) considers these grounds to be confession, witnessing, oath, vows, and judge’s knowledge.  As we know, among proving grounds, confessions have special standing to the extent that it is called the “queen” of legal reasons, such that as soon as there is a confession, the judge is required to issue his verdict based on it.  In the present article, considering the Islamic punishment law of 1392 (2013) we attempt to determine the position of the judge’s knowledge in proving criminal matters, and whether we can consider it the “higher reason” or the “queen” of reasons.  Is there a reason that has a higher position among criminal proving grounds?  The results of the analyses indicate that for the first time, in the Islamic punishment law of 1392 (2013), while keeping the proof value of the other grounds, the legislator has considered judge’s knowledge in a higher position than the other criminal grounds including confession and witnessing.