Direct shear tests were on ducted in a laboratory setting in order to investigate the shear strength and deformation behavior of rock joints. Also, the characteristics of acoustic emissions (AE) during shearing of rock joints were studied. The artificial rock joints were created by splitting the intact blocks of Hwangdeung granites and Iksan marbles. Joint roughness profiles were measured by a profile gage and then digitized by Image analyzer. Roughness profile indices(Rp) of the joints were calculated with these digitized data. Peak shear strength, residual shear strength, shear stiffness and maximum acoustic emission(AE) rate were investigated with joint roughness. The peak shear strenght, the residual shear strength and the shear stiffness were increased as roughness popfile index or normal stress increased in the shear tests of granites. In the tests of marble samples, the shear deformation characteristics were not directly affected by joint roughness. As the result of two directional shear tests, the shear characteristics were varied with shear direction. AE count rates were measured during the shear deformation and the AE signals in several stages of the deformation were analyzed in a frequency domain. The AE rate peaks coincided with the stress drops during the shear deformation of joint. The dominant frequencies of the AE signals were in the vicinity of 100 kHz fo rgranite sample and 900 kHz for marble samples. The distribution of amplitude was dispersed with increasing normal stress.