Addressing the subject in his Commentaries on the Laws of England, William Blackstone established perjury as “a crime committed when a lawful oath is taken in a court case to a person who swears intentionally, absolutely and falsely in a matter essential to the question or point in question.” [27] The common law punishment for perjury ranged from death to exile and included punishments as grotesque as cutting off the tongue of perjury. [28] The structure of the definition of perjury provides an important framework for judicial proceedings, as the components of this definition have penetrated the boundaries of jurisdiction and found their place in American legal constructs. As such, the main principles of perjury, including mens rea, a legal oath that occurs in a court case, a false declaration in the United States of the necessary parts of the definition of perjury have remained. [29] The ninth commandment says, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). Two or three witnesses were required under ancient Hebrew law to establish a civil complaint or criminal offense under criminal law. A false witness may be sworn in a court case to establish guilt in criminal proceedings or fault in civil proceedings. Since a verdict based on false testimony could destroy the lives or property of innocent people and discredit a country`s justice system, the penalty for perjury was very severe. A particularly precarious aspect of the wording is that it involves knowledge of the accused`s perception of the truthful nature of the events and not necessarily of the actual truth of those events. It is important to note here the distinction between a false affidavit and the mere accidental misrepresentation of a fact, but the distinction can be particularly difficult to discern in court. [32] [33] As with most other common law crimes, to be convicted of perjury, one must have had the intention (mens rea) to commit the act and actually commit the act (actus reus).
In addition, statements that are facts cannot be considered perjury, even though they could constitute an omission, and it is not perjury to lie on matters not relevant to the trial. Statements that imply an interpretation of the facts are not perjury because people often unknowingly draw inaccurate conclusions or make honest mistakes without deceiving intent. Individuals may have honest but false beliefs about certain facts, or their memory may be inaccurate, or they may have a different perception of what the exact way to tell the truth is. In some jurisdictions, no crime has been committed when a false statement (intentionally or unintentionally) is made under oath or under penalty of punishment. Instead, criminal guilt is established only when the declarant falsely asserts the veracity of the statements (made or made) that are essential to the outcome of the proceedings. For example, lying about one`s age is not perjury unless age is an essential fact to influence legal outcome, such as entitlement to pension benefits, or a person was of legal capacity age. Dunnigan`s distinction manifests its meaning in relation to the relationship between two components of the definition of perjury: when intentionally making a false statement, a person must understand that he or she is making a false statement in order to be considered perjury in the Dunnigan context. Notice to the defendant is required for a statement to constitute perjury. [36] Legal developments in U.S. perjury law revolved around facilitating “perjury prosecutions and thus improving the reliability of testimony in federal courts and grand juries.” [37] “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor” (Exodus 20:16) is the ninth commandment (the designation varies according to religion[1]) of the Ten Commandments[2], which are widely understood by Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant scholars as moral imperatives.
[3] [4] [5] In order to maintain “a clear conscience of God and man” (Acts 24:16), Christians must follow Christ`s example “to bear witness to the truth.” (John 18:37) The Christian should not be “ashamed to bear witness to our Lord.” (2 Timothy 1:8) In situations that require a witness of faith, the Christian must confess it unambiguously.