Perjury
PERJURY
Is the taking of an oath, in order to tell or confirm a falsehood. This is a very heinous crime, as it is treating the Almighty with irreverence; denying, or at least discarding his omniscience; profaning his name, and violating truth. It has always been esteemed a very detestable thing, and those who have been proved guilty of it, have been looked upon as the pests of society.
See OATH.
Fuente: Theological Dictionary
perjury
(Latin: perjurium, a false or broken oath)
The crime of taking a false oath. An oath. since it consists in calling upon the all-knowing and all-truthful God to witness the truth of a statement or the sincerity of a purpose, is an act of the virtue of religion. A false oath, then, in addition to the evil of a lie contains the evil of a sin against the virtue of religion and of itself, apart from cases of ignorance or lack of deliberation, is always a grievous sin.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
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.
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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 XICopyright © 1911 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Perjury
is the willful taking of an oath in order to tell or to confirm anything known to be false. This is evidently a very heinous crime, as it is treating the Almighty with irreverence; denying, or at least disregarding his omniscience; profaning his name, and violating truth. By the Mosaic law, perjury was strictly prohibited as a most heinous sin against God; to whom the punishment of it is left, and who in Exo 20:7 expressly promises that he will inflict it, without ordaining the infliction of any punishment by the temporal magistrate; except only in the case of a man falsely charging another with a crime, in which case the false witness was liable to the same punishment which would have been inflicted on the accused party if he had been found guilty; but this not, indeed, as the punishment of perjury against God, but of false testimony. Perjury, therefore ( , false swearing), was prohibited by the Hebrews in a religious point of view (Exo 20:7; Lev 19:12; comp. Matthew 7:33; Zec 8:17), but in the law only two sorts of perjury are noticed: 1, false testimony in judicial proceedings; 2, a false assurance, confirmed by an oath, that one has not received or found a piece of property in question (Lev 5:1; Lev 6:2 sq.; Pro 29:24). A sin-offering is provided for both (comp. Plaut. Rud. 5:3, 21), and in the latter case satisfaction for the injury, with increase (comp. Hebenstreit, De sacrifcio a perjuro ojn- endo, Lips. 1739). Among the ancient Romans, also, the punishment of perjury was left with the gods (Cic. Leg. 2:9), and no official public notice was taken of the perjured man, save by the censor (Gen 7:18; comp. Cic. Off. 3:31; Rein, Rom. Criminalrecht, p. 795 sq.). On the contrary, the Talmud not only notices the subject at greater length, but ordains more severe penalties for perjury: scourging and full reparation when any serious injury has been done (Mishna, Maccoth, 2:3 sq.; Shebuoth, 8:3). It also determines in special cases the value of the sin-offering to be presented (Shebuoth, 4:2; v. 1; comp. further Zenge and Stemler, De jurejur. sec. discipl. Hebr. p. 57 sq.). SEE OATH.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Perjury (2)
in Christian law is. the crime committed by one who, when affirming anything by oath, makes statements which he knows to be false. This is, from the Biblical standpoint, a double crime, including both falsehood and profanity; and in a social point of view it is one of the gravest offenses against human law. It has always been esteemed a very detestable thing, and those who have been proved guilty of it have been looked upon as the pests of society. In order to make the giving of the false evidence liable to punishment under the civil law, it must have been not only false to the knowledge of the witness but the matter must have been material to the issue raised. If the falsehood occurred as to some trifling or immaterial fact, no crime is committed. Moreover, it is necessary, in proving the crime, that at least two persons should be able to testify to the falsehood of the matter, so that there might be a majority of oaths on the matter there being then two oaths to one. But this rule is satisfied though both witnesses do not testify to one point. The perjury must also have taken place before some court or tribunal which had power to administer the oath. SEE OATH. Though in some courts affirmations are allowed instead of oaths, yet the punishment for false affirmation is made precisely the same as for false swearing. The punishment for perjury was, before the Conquest, sometimes death or cutting out the tongue; but latterly it was confined to fine and imprisonment, and at present the latter is the only punishment, with the addition of hard labor. The crime of subornation of perjury, i.e. the persuading or procuring a person to give false evidence, is also punishable as a distinct offense.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Perjury
PERJURY.See Crimes and Punishments, 5.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Perjury
purju-ri. See CRIMES; OATH; PUNISHMENTS.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Perjury
General references
Lev 6:2-7; Lev 19:12; Isa 48:1; Jer 5:2; Jer 7:9; Hos 10:4; Zec 5:4; Zec 8:17; Mal 3:5; Mat 5:33; 1Ti 1:9-10 Falsehood; False Witness; Oath
Instances of:
– Zedekiah
2Ch 36:13
– Witnesses against Naboth
1Ki 21:8-13
– Witnesses against David
Psa 35:11
– Witnesses against Jesus
Mat 26:59; Mar 14:56-57
– Witnesses against Stephen
Act 6:11; Act 6:13-14
– Peter, when he denied Jesus with an oath
Mat 26:74; Mar 14:71