Perjury

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Perjury \Per"ju*ry\, n.; pl. {Perjuries}. [L. perjurium. See
     {Perjure}, v.]
     1. False swearing.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Law) At common law, a willfully false statement in a fact


        material to the issue, made by a witness under oath in a
        competent judicial proceeding. By statute the penalties of
        perjury are imposed on the making of willfully false
        affirmations.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: If a man swear falsely in nonjudicial affidavits, it is
           made perjury by statute in some jurisdictions in the
           United States.
           [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  perjury
       n : criminal offense of making false statements under oath [syn:
            {bearing false witness}, {lying under oath}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  35 Moby Thesaurus words for "perjury":
     artfulness, coloring, confabulation, craftiness, credibility gap,
     deceitfulness, disingenuousness, distortion, equivocation,
     exaggeration, false coloring, false swearing, falseheartedness,
     falsification, falsifying, forswearing, fraud, insincerity,
     intrigue, lying, mendaciousness, mendacity, miscoloring,
     misconstruction, misrepresentation, misstatement, perversion,
     prevarication, sharp practice, straining, uncandidness, uncandor,
     unfrankness, unsincereness, untruthfulness
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  PERJURY, crim. law. This offence at common law is defined to be a willful 
  false oath, by one who being lawfully required to depose the truth in any 
  judicial proceedings, swears absolutely in a matter material to the point in 
  question, whether he be believed or not. 
       2. If we analyze this definition we will find, 1st. That the oath must 
  be willful. 2d. That it must be false. 3d. That the party was lawfully 
  sworn. 4th. That the proceeding was judicial. 6th. That the assertion was 
  absolute. 6th. That the falsehood was material to the point in question. 
       3.-1. The intention must be willful. The oath must be taken and the 
  falsehood asserted with deliberation, and a consciousness of the nature of 
  the statement made; for if it has arisen in consequence of inadvertency, 
  surprise or mistake of the import of the question, there was no corrupt 
  motive; Hawk. B. 1, c. 69, s. 2; but one who swears willfully and 
  deliberately to a matter which he rashly believes, which is false, and which 
  he had no probable cause for believing, is guilty of perjury. 6 Binn. R. 
  249. See 1 Baldw. 370; 1 Bailey, 50. 
       4.-2. The oath must be false. The party must believe that what he is 
  swearing is fictitious; for, if intending to deceive, he asserts that which 
  may happen to be true, without any knowledge of the fact, he is equally 
  criminal, and the accidental truth of his evidence will not excuse him. 3 
  Inst. 166 Hawk. B. 1, c. 69, s. 6. 
       5.-3. The party must be lawfully sworn. The person by whom the oath 
  is administered must have competent authority to receive it; an oath, 
  therefore, taken before a private person, or before an officer having no 
  jurisdiction, will not amount to perjury. 3 Inst. 166; 1 Johns. R. 498; 9 
  Cowen, R. 30; 3 McCord, R. 308; 4 McCord, It. 165; 2 Russ. on Cr. 520; 3 
  Carr. & Payne, 419; S. C. 14 Eng. Com. Law Rep. 376; 2 Chitt. Cr. Law, 304; 
  4 Hawks, 182; 1 N. & M. 546; 3 McCord, 308; 2 Hayw. 56; 8 Pick. 453. 
       6.-4. The proceedings must be judicial. Proceedings before those who 
  are in any way entrusted with the administration of justice, in respect of 
  any matter regularly before them, are considered as judicial for this 
  purpose. 2 Chitt. Crim. C. 303; 2 Russ. on Cr. 518; Hawk. B. 1, c. 69, s. 3. 
  Vide 3 Yeates, R. 414; 9 Pet. Rep. 238. Perjury cannot therefore be 
  committed in a case of which the court had no jurisdiction. 4 Hawks, 182; 2 
  Hayw. 56; 3 McCord, 308; 8 Pick. 453: 1 N. & McC. 546. 
       7.-5. The assertion must be absolute. If a man, however, swears that 
  he believes that to be true which he knows to be false, it will be perjury. 
  2 Russ. on Cr. 518; 3 Wils. 427; 2 Bl. Rep. 881; 1 Leach, 242; 6 Binn. Rep. 
  249; Lofft's Gilb. Ev. 662. 
       8.-6. The oath must be material to the question depending. Where the 
  facts sworn to are wholly foreign from the purpose and altogether immaterial 
  to the matter in question, the oath does not amount to a legal perjury. 2 
  Russell on Cr. 521; 3 Inst. 167; 8 Ves. jun. 35; 2 Rolle, 41, 42, 369; 1 
  Hawk. B. 1, c. 69, s. 8; Bac. Ab. Perjury, A; 2 N. & M. 118; 2 Mis. R. 158. 
  Nor can perjury be assigned upon the valuation under oath, of a jewel or 
  other thing, the value of which consists in estimation. Sid. 146; 1 Keble, 
  510. 
       9. It is not within the plan of this work to cite all the statutes 
  passed by the general government, or the several states on the subject of 
  perjury. It is proper, however, here to transcribe a part of the 13th 
  section of the act of congress of March 3, 1825, which provides as follows: 
  "If any person in any case, matter, bearing, or other proceeding, when an 
  oath or affirmation shall be required to be taken or administered under or 
  by any law or laws of the United States, shall, upon the taking of such oath 
  or affirmation, knowingly and willingly swear or affirm falsely, every 
  person, so offending, shall be deemed guilty of perjury, and shall, on 
  conviction thereof, be punished by fine, not exceeding two thousand dollars, 
  and by imprisonment and confinement to bard labor, not exceeding five years, 
  according to the aggravation of the offence. And if any person or persons 
  shall knowingly or willingly procure any such perjury to be committed, every 
  person so offending shall be deemed guilty of subornation of perjury, and 
  shall on conviction thereof, be punished. by fine, not exceeding two 
  thousand dollars, and by imprisonment and confinement to bard labor, not 
  exceeding five years, according to the aggravation of the offence." 
      10. In general it may be observed that a perjury is committed as well by 
  making a false affirmation, as a false oath. Vide, generally, 16 Vin. Abr. 
  307; Bac. Abr. h.t.; Com. Dig. Justices of the Peace, B 102 to 106; 4 Bl. 
  Com. 137 to 139; 3 Inst. 163 to 168; Hawk. B. 1, c. 69; Russ. on Cr. B. 5, 
  c. 1; 2 Chitt. Cr. L. c. 9; Roscoe on Cr. Ev. h.t.; Burn's J. h.t. Williams' 
  J. h.t.