10th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Korea (pen name Hyoam)
| Life | 1920 ~ 2007 |
| Era | 현대 |
| Clan | 한산 이씨 |
Yi Il-gyu (李一珪, 1920-2007) was a Korean jurist from Hansan, with pen name Hyoam (曉庵), born in Seocheon County, South Chungcheong. After Seocheon Middle School he studied law at Gyeonggi Academy, passed the bar examination and followed the path of a judge. He is a Hansan Yi who reached the highest post in the modern judiciary.
Starting as a judge of the Tongyeong branch court, he served as presiding judge at the Daegu District Court, Daegu High Court and Gwangju High Court, then headed the Jeonju, Daejeon and Daegu district courts before being appointed a Supreme Court justice in 1973. In the 1975 People's Revolutionary Party case he is recorded as the only justice to file a dissent. In 1977, when the majority upheld a death sentence for a 20-year-old defendant convicted of robbery-murder and other crimes, he joined three other justices in a dissent against capital punishment, noting that the defendant had been separated from his family young, drifted through orphanages and lacked proper education, and arguing that since punishment is not only retribution, life imprisonment with rehabilitation should be tried.
He left the Supreme Court bench in 1985 and, in 1988, right after the National Assembly rejected the appointment of Chief Justice nominee Jeong Gi-seung, was appointed 10th Chief Justice and retired at the mandatory age after about a year and a half. He died in December 2007. The cases and dissents are given as in public sources such as Wikipedia, and assessments may differ by case and viewpoint.
His dissents are records based on public rulings and reports, and for the specific issues and assessments of the trials please consult separate specialist sources. As a public figure who died in 2007 he is described only through his public work, and no photo is included because its terms of use could not be confirmed.
Starting at the Tongyeong branch court he served as presiding judge and chief of several courts and became a Supreme Court justice in 1973.
He is recorded as the only dissenter in the 1975 People's Revolutionary Party case and as joining a 1977 dissent against a death sentence.
He was appointed 10th Chief Justice in 1988 and retired at the mandatory age about a year and a half later.
The tomb was not confirmed here.
Family details are omitted as private matters.