Perjury

Perjury
Perjury
The crime and sin of taking a false oath

Catholic Encyclopedia. . 2006.

Perjury
    Perjury
     Catholic_Encyclopedia Perjury
    (Latin per, through and jurare, to swear)
    Perjury is the crime of taking a false oath (q.v.). To the guilt of the sin of lying it adds an infraction of the virtue of religion. An oath properly taken is an act of worship because it implies that God as witness to the truth is omniscient and infallible. Hence the wickedness of invoking the Divine testimony to confirm an untruth is specially criminal. Prescinding from cases of ignorance or insufficient deliberation this sin is reputed to be always mortal. When in doubt one cannot without perjury swear to a thing as certain. When mental reservation is permissible it is lawful to corroborate one's utterance by an oath, if there be an adequate cause. It is obvious, however, that if in general it be true that there is need of caution in the use of mental reservations lest they be simply lies, there will be an additional motive for care when they are to be distinguished with the solemnity of an oath. According to the common doctrine as to co-operation in another's sin, it would be a grievous offense to require a person to take an oath when we know he is going to perjure himself. This teaching, however, does not apply to cases in which justice or necessity demand that a statement be sworn to. Hence, for instance, a trial judge, may insist that evidence be presented under oath even though it be clear that much or all of the testimony is false. Perjury, according to the divisions in vogue in Canon Law, belongs to the category of crimes called mixed. These may fall under the cognizance of either the ecclesiastical or civil court, according as they are reputed to work damage either to the spiritual or civil commonwealth. No canonical penalty is incurred by one guilty of perjury, at least directly. When, however, a person has been convicted of it before a competent tribunal and sentence imposed, he is esteemed infamous (infamia juris) and therefore irregular.
    TAUNTON, The Law of the Church (London, 1906); SLATER, Manual of Moral Theology (New York, 1908); BALLERINI, Opus Theologicum Morale (Prato, 1899).
    JOSEPH F. DELANY
    Transcribed by Michael T. Barrett Dedicated to all who strive for truth and justice

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIII. — New York: Robert Appleton Company. . 1910.


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  • perjury — per·ju·ry / pər jə rē/ n pl ries [Anglo French perjurie parjurie, from Latin perjurium, from perjurus deliberately giving false testimony, from per detrimental to + jur jus law]: the act or crime of knowingly making a false statement (as about a… …   Law dictionary

  • Perjury — Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the act of lying or making verifiably false statements on a material matter under oath or affirmation in a court of law or in any of various sworn statements in writing. It is important that the false… …   Wikipedia

  • perjury — per‧ju‧ry [ˈpɜːdʒəri ǁ ˈpɜːr ] noun [uncountable] LAW the crime of telling a lie after promising to tell the truth in a court of law: • A company official committed perjury during the trial. * * * perjury UK US /ˈpɜːdʒəri/ noun [U] ► LAW the… …   Financial and business terms

  • 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… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • perjury — late 14c., act of swearing to a statement known to be false, via Anglo Fr. parjurie (late 13c.) and O.Fr. parjurie, both from L. perjurium false oath, from perjurare swear falsely, from per away, entirely (see PER (Cf. per)) + jurare to swear… …   Etymology dictionary

  • perjury — [n] lying while under oath deceitfulness, deception, dishonesty, falsehood, false oath, false swearing, false testimony, falsification, untruth, untruthfulness; concepts 63,278 …   New thesaurus

  • perjury — ► NOUN Law ▪ the offence of deliberately telling an untruth in court when under oath …   English terms dictionary

  • perjury — [pʉr′jə rē] n. pl. perjuries [ME < OFr parjurie < L perjurium < perjurus, false, breaking oath < per, through + jus (gen. juris), a right, justice: see JURY1] 1. the willful telling of a lie while under lawful oath or affirmation to… …   English World dictionary

  • perjury — perjurious /peuhr joor ee euhs/, adj. perjuriously, adv. perjuriousness, n. /perr jeuh ree/, n., pl. perjuries. Law. the willful giving of false testimony under oath or affirmation, before a competent tribunal, upon a point material to a legal… …   Universalium

  • PERJURY — Witnesses are guilty of perjury if it is proved, by the evidence of at least two other competent and consistent witnesses, that they had not been present at the time and at the place where they had testified to have been when the event in issue… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

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