Open Decision Ledger · Constitutional, administrative & state liability
Adequate causation between state-caused mental illness and a later suicide
Supreme Court, Oct. 30, 2025, 2025Da212444 (judgment)
Case name: 손해배상(기)
Official text on the National Law Information Center
Question
Where the state's unlawful act caused a person to develop schizophrenia and he died by suicide some five and a half years after release from the Samcheong Education Corps, is adequate causation to be found between that mental illness and the death?
Holding
Causation in a civil dispute is social and legal, not medical or natural-scientific, so it need not be proved clearly on medical evidence. The question is decided from a normative standpoint: where the state's unlawful act caused a mental illness and it can be inferred that the person took his own life while suffering loss of mind or confusion, or while markedly impaired in recognition, choice of conduct or mental self-restraint, adequate causation must be found between the illness and the death. On this record, the continuous illness and treatment without improvement, and the absence of any other cause or motive for the suicide, left room for that inference, so granting only part of the claims was wrong.
Summary of the holding, verbatim
국가의 불법행위로 정신분열증 등 정신질환이 발생하였고, 그러한 정신질환으로 인하여 심신상실 내지 정신착란의 상태 또는 정상적인 인식능력이나 행위선택능력, 정신적 억제력이 현저히 저하된 정신장애 상태에 빠져 자살에 이르게 된 것이라고 추단할 수 있는 때에는 그 정신질환과 사망 사이에 상당인과관계가 있다고 보아야 한다.
Unofficial English translation
Where a mental illness such as schizophrenia occurred due to an unlawful act of the State, and where it can be inferred that the person, falling into a state of unconsciousness or delirium, or a mental impairment state in which the normal capacity for cognition, capacity to choose one's conduct, or mental self-control was significantly diminished, by reason of such mental illness, committed suicide, adequate causation (proximate cause) must be found to exist between the mental illness and the death.
Disposition
Partly reversed and remanded Stated in the decision
원심판결 중 원고 10, 원고 11, 원고 12, 원고 13 패소 부분을 파기하고, 이 부분 사건을 서울고등법원에 환송한다. 피고의 상고를 모두 기각한다.
Unofficial English translation
The portion of the judgment of the court below in which Plaintiff 10, Plaintiff 11, Plaintiff 12, and Plaintiff 13 lost is reversed, and the case in this portion is remanded to the Seoul High Court. All appeals of the defendant are dismissed.
Form of the test
Elements stated Stated in the decision
규범적 관점에서 상당인과관계의 유무로써 판단되어야 한다.
Unofficial English translation
This must be determined from a normative perspective by the presence or absence of adequate causation (proximate cause).
Factors
- 삼청교육대 입소 전 정상적인 사회활동을 하고 있었고 건강상태는 비교적 양호하였으나
- 삼청교육대 퇴소 직후부터 자살에 이를 때까지 약 5년 6개월 동안 정신분열증 등 정신질환에 시달렸고
- 여러 차례 통원 및 입원 치료를 받았음에도 호전되지 못한 것으로 보이는 점
- 정신분열증 등의 정신질환 이외에 자살에 이르게 될 다른 원인이나 동기를 찾아보기 어려운 점
Unofficial English translation
• Before being admitted to the Samcheong Education Camp, the person was engaged in normal social activities and was in comparatively good health, but
• from immediately after being released from the Samcheong Education Camp until the time of suicide, over a period of approximately 5 years and 6 months, the person suffered from mental illnesses including schizophrenia, and
• it appears that, despite having received outpatient and inpatient treatment on numerous occasions, there was no improvement
• it is difficult to find any other cause or motive that would have led to the suicide apart from mental illnesses such as schizophrenia
Relation to precedent
Cannot be determined Not in the decision
Decisions referred to
해당 본문 참조
Burden of proof
Not addressed Not in the decision
Open question and revisit condition
If the suicide occurs many years after the mental illness has run its course, at what point can the mental state described no longer be inferred from the illness alone?
The remand judgment of the Seoul High Court, in which it decides whether the suicide of Non-party 1 is attributable to the state's unlawful act, would require this entry to be read again. Any amendment to Article 750 or Article 751 of the Civil Act, or a later Supreme Court decision on the causal link between a state-caused illness and suicide, would do the same.
Cross-family AI independent reading & axis check
6 of 8 axes matched GPT-6 Astra (OpenAI, codex CLI) · 2026-10-24
A reader from another model family (GPT-6 Astra), given the official text but not the primary reading, agreed on 6 of the 8 axes; the readings differed on axis 4 (form of the test), axis 8 (open question and revisit condition).
Axis 4 (Form of the test): Primary “Elements stated” vs Independent “Existing test applied”
The primary reading treats the judgment as setting out the legal requirements for causation, while the independent reading treats it as applying those requirements to the facts of this case.
이와 달리 보아 유족들의 위자료 청구 중 일부만 인용한 원심판단에 법리오해 등의 잘못이 있다고 한 사례.Axis 8 (Open question and revisit condition): Primary “If the suicide occurs many years after the mental illness has run its course, at what point can the mental state described no longer be inferred from the illness alone?” vs Independent “What amount of compensation should the affected family members receive if adequate causation is established on remand?”
The primary reading asks when, after a long gap, the mental state can no longer be inferred from the illness alone. The independent reading asks what compensation amount should be awarded on remand.
국가의 불법행위로 정신분열증 등 정신질환이 발생하였고, 그러한 정신질환으로 인하여 심신상실 내지 정신착란의 상태 또는 정상적인 인식능력이나 행위선택능력, 정신적 억제력이 현저히 저하된 정신장애 상태에 빠져 자살에 이르게 된 것이라고 추단할 수 있는 때에는 그 정신질환과 사망 사이에 상당인과관계가 있다고 보아야 한다.Raw responses and comparison record: Protocol · Blind readings (JSONL) · Axis comparison (JSONL) · SHA-256 (JSON)
Lower-court contrast & scope of application
Lower-court reading vs. Supreme Court holding
Lower-court context: The Seoul High Court, in its judgment of 24 April 2025 (2024Na2061118), held that state liability in damages arose from the proclamation and enforcement of the martial law at issue, since individual citizens were harmed and the parties unlawfully arrested and detained and their families suffered mental pain. It rejected the defendant's defences of the short limitation period and of deduction of compensation payments. As to Non-party 1, it accepted that schizophrenia could be inferred to have begun under the Samcheong Education Corps purification education, but held that it was hard to see that he took his own life because of that schizophrenia, and so granted only part of the claims of Plaintiffs 10 to 13.
Supreme Court standard: The Supreme Court held that the question is one of social and legal causation and is decided from a normative standpoint, so that adequate causation must be found between the state-caused mental illness and the suicide where the state of mind described can be inferred. Weighing the deceased's normal social life and good health before admission, the mental illness he suffered for about five and a half years after release, the repeated outpatient and inpatient treatment without improvement, and the absence of any other cause or motive for the suicide, the Court held there was room for that inference notwithstanding the length of the gap. The court below had misread the law on adequate causation and had failed to make the necessary inquiry or had exceeded the limits of free evaluation, so the part of the judgment adverse to Plaintiffs 10 to 13 was reversed and remanded; the defendant's appeal was dismissed in full, and its appeal costs as to the remaining plaintiffs fall on the defendant.
Distinguishing conditions
- A case in which the mental illness itself cannot be inferred to have arisen from the state's unlawful act.
- A case in which another cause or motive for the suicide can be found in the record.
- A case in which the mental illness had improved, so that no state of loss of mind, confusion or marked impairment can be inferred at the time of the suicide.
Record verification notes
Set the file against the four points the Court weighed: what the person did and how his health was before the state's act, the treatment he received and its result, and every other candidate cause or motive for the suicide. Note also that the Supreme Court found no error in the court below's rejection of the short limitation period and the deduction of compensation payments, and dismissed the defendant's appeal in full.
From the official text
Points at issue
[1] 국가의 불법행위로 정신분열증 등 정신질환이 발생하였고 그러한 정신질환으로 인하여 심신상실 내지 정신착란 상태 또는 정상적인 인식능력, 행위선택능력, 정신적 억제력이 현저히 저하된 정신장애 상태에 빠져 자살에 이른 것으로 추단되는 경우, 정신질환과 사망 사이에 상당인과관계가 있다고 보아야 하는지 여부(적극) [2] 삼청교육대 퇴소 후 정신분열증 등의 정신질환으로 입원 치료를 받다가 자살한 갑의 유족들이 국가를 상대로 손해배상을 구한 사안에서, 갑이 삼청교육대 퇴소일로부터 약 5년 6개월이 지난 후 자살하였다고 하더라도 삼청교육대 순화교육 등으로 정신분열증이 발병하였고 그러한 정신분열증으로 인하여 심신상실 내지 정신착란의 상태 또는 정상적인 인식능력이나 행위선택능력, 정신적 억제력이 현저히 저하된 정신장애 상태에 빠져 자살에 이르게 된 것이라고 추단할 여지가 있는데도, 이와 달리 보아 유족들의 위자료 청구 중 일부만 인용한 원심판단에 법리오해 등의 잘못이 있다고 한 사례
Unofficial English translation
[1] Where it can be inferred that a mental illness such as schizophrenia occurred due to an unlawful act of the State, and that the person, falling into a state of unconsciousness or delirium, or a mental impairment state in which the normal capacity for cognition, capacity to choose one's conduct, or mental self-control was significantly diminished, by reason of such mental illness, committed suicide, whether adequate causation (proximate cause) should be found to exist between the mental illness and the death (affirmative) [2] In a case where the surviving family members of A, who, after being released from the Samcheong Education Camp, died by suicide while hospitalized for treatment of mental illnesses including schizophrenia, sought damages from the State, holding that, even though A died by suicide approximately 5 years and 6 months after the date of release from the Samcheong Education Camp, there remains room to infer that schizophrenia developed due to the purification education and other programs at the Samcheong Education Camp, and that A, falling into a state of unconsciousness or delirium, or a mental impairment state in which the normal capacity for cognition, capacity to choose one's conduct, or mental self-control was significantly diminished, by reason of such schizophrenia, came to commit suicide; and a case in which it was held that the determination of the court below, which, viewing the matter differently, granted only a portion of the surviving family members' claims for solatium, was erroneous on the ground of, among other things, misapprehension of legal principles
Summary of the holding
[1] 민사 분쟁에서의 인과관계는 의학적·자연과학적 인과관계가 아니라 사회적·법적 인과관계이므로, 그 인과관계가 반드시 의학적·자연과학적으로 명백히 증명되어야 하는 것이 아니다. 따라서 국가의 불법행위로 발생한 질병과 사망 사이에 인과관계가 있는지 여부는 반드시 의학적·자연과학적으로 명백히 증명되어야 하는 것이 아니라 규범적 관점에서 상당인과관계의 유무로써 판단되어야 한다. 국가의 불법행위로 정신분열증 등 정신질환이 발생하였고, 그러한 정신질환으로 인하여 심신상실 내지 정신착란의 상태 또는 정상적인 인식능력이나 행위선택능력, 정신적 억제력이 현저히 저하된 정신장애 상태에 빠져 자살에 이르게 된 것이라고 추단할 수 있는 때에는 그 정신질환과 사망 사이에 상당인과관계가 있다고 보아야 한다. [2] 삼청교육대 퇴소 후 정신분열증 등의 정신질환으로 입원 치료를 받다가 자살한 갑의 유족들이 국가를 상대로 손해배상을 구한 사안에서, 갑이 삼청교육대 입소 전 정상적인 사회활동을 하고 있었고 건강상태는 비교적 양호하였으나, 삼청교육대 퇴소 직후부터 자살에 이를 때까지 약 5년 6개월 동안 정신분열증 등 정신질환에 시달렸고 여러 차례 통원 및 입원 치료를 받았음에도 호전되지 못한 것으로 보이는 점, 갑이 정신분열증 등을 이유로 정신요양원 입원 중 자살하였는데 그에게 정신분열증 등의 정신질환 이외에 자살에 이르게 될 다른 원인이나 동기를 찾아보기 어려운 점 등을 고려하면, 갑이 삼청교육대 퇴소일로부터 약 5년 6개월이 지난 후 자살하였다고 하더라도 삼청교육대 순화교육 등으로 정신분열증이 발병하였고 그러한 정신분열증으로 인하여 심신상실 내지 정신착란의 상태 또는 정상적인 인식능력이나 행위선택능력, 정신적 억제력이 현저히 저하된 정신장애 상태에 빠져 자살에 이르게 된 것이라고 추단할 여지가 있는데도, 이와 달리 보아 유족들의 위자료 청구 중 일부만 인용한 원심판단에 법리오해 등의 잘못이 있다고 한 사례.
Order
원심판결 중 원고 10, 원고 11, 원고 12, 원고 13 패소 부분을 파기하고, 이 부분 사건을 서울고등법원에 환송한다. 피고의 상고를 모두 기각한다. 피고의 원고 10, 원고 11, 원고 12, 원고 13을 제외한 나머지 원고들에 대한 상고로 인한 상고비용은 피고가 부담한다.
Unofficial English translation
The portion of the judgment of the court below in which Plaintiff 10, Plaintiff 11, Plaintiff 12, and Plaintiff 13 lost is reversed, and the case in this portion is remanded to the Seoul High Court. All appeals of the defendant are dismissed. The costs of the final appeal incurred by the defendant's final appeal with respect to the plaintiffs other than Plaintiff 10, Plaintiff 11, Plaintiff 12, and Plaintiff 13 shall be borne by the defendant.
Provisions referred to
[1] 민법 제750조, 제751조 / [2] 민법 제750조, 제751조
Read 2026-10-24 · Cross-read 2026-10-24. All quotes matched against the official text. The Chinese-character placeholders the court used for anonymised parties are given in their Korean readings, and parenthetical Chinese-character glosses are omitted.
Every entry is published only after all quotes have been matched character by character against the official text, and audited by an independent second reading from a different model family across all eight axes. Both agreed axes and text-grounded interpretive divergences are recorded openly. The ledger is a research record, not an assessment of the court or advice on any matter.
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