OATH 



OATS 



563 



Members of parliament now take only the oath of 

 allegiance, which has come in the place of the 

 several oaths of allegiance, supremacy, and abjura- 

 tion formerly required from every member of both 

 Houses of Parliament and from all persons holding 

 office under the crown. Till comparatively recent 

 times, oaths were required on many trivial occa- 

 sions and from numerous classes of persons. By 

 5 and 6 Will. IV. chap. 62, and several succeeding 

 statutes, however, nearly all these unnecessary 

 oaths have been abolished and declarations have 

 been substituted. Special oaths are, nevertheless, 

 still taken by privy-councillors, by archbishops and 

 bishops, by peers, baronets, and knights on their 

 creation, by aliens on being naturalised, by recruits, 

 and others. 



The most important oaths affecting the general 

 public are those which are administered in courts 

 of justice to jurors and witnesses. Jurymen, who 

 are called on to exercise their functions, whether in 

 civil or criminal cases, are sworn ' to well and truly 

 try the issue l>etween the parties, ami a true verdict 

 give, according to the evidence.' Further, no per- 

 son can give testimony upon any trial until he have 

 in one form or another given a pledge that he will 

 narrate the truth ; he thus renders himself liable 

 to the temporal penalties of perjury in the event of 

 his wilfully and corruptly giving false testimony. 

 In England, the oath which is administered to wit- 

 nesses is in this form: 'The evidence I shall 

 give shall be the truth, the whole truth, and 

 nothing but the truth, so help me God.' The 

 universal usage in England and Ireland was for the 

 witness, after hearing the oath repeated by the 

 "Hirer of court, to kiss tin- New Testament; about 

 1892 the equally legal practice of swearing with up- 

 lifted hand came into use. There is an ordinance 

 of the Emperor Julian prescribing that the oath be 

 taken MCTCMmefM <((//</<.'/'/.< tm-/i.i. In Scotland 

 the witness, standing and holding up his right 

 hand, repeats the oath after the judge, as follows : 

 4 1 swear by Almighty God, and as I shall answer 

 to God at the great day of judgment, that I will 

 tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing I ut 

 the truth.' Children under twelve years of age 

 are never sworn, but are admonished to tell the 

 truth. Children between twelve and fourteen may 

 take the oath, but only if the judge is satisfied 

 that they understood its nature. By the Act 1 and 

 2 Viet. chap. 105, legislative sanction has been 

 given to the rule of the common law that all per- 

 sons shall be lioiind by the oaths which are lawfully 

 administered to them, ' provided they are adminis- 

 tered in such form, and with such ceremonies as 

 the parties sworn declare to be binding on their 

 consciences.' Thus, a Jew is sworn on the Penta- 

 teuch, with his head covered ; a .Mohammedan, on 

 the Koran, laying his right hand flat on the sacred 

 book and then touching it with his forehead. A 

 Chinaman is sworn by the ceremony of breaking a 

 saucer before taking the oath. As regards the per- 

 sons entitled to nd minister oaths, Lord Brougham's 

 Act of 18,51 provides that 'every court, judge, 

 justice, officer, commissioner, arbitrator, or other 

 person, now or hereafter, having by law or by con- 

 sent of parties authority to hear, receive, and 

 examine evidence, is hereby eni|x>wered to ad- 

 minister an oath to all such witnesses as are 

 called liefore them.' Further, by statute (18 and 

 19 Viet. chap. 42) all diplomatic and consular 

 agents abroad are empowered to administer oaths 

 and do notarial acts. At the same time the old 

 practice of persons voluntarily taking oaths before 

 a justice of the peace e.g. by a debtor as a further 

 security to his creditors, and in various instances 

 not connected with any judicial proceeding has 

 lieen put an end to by the statute 5 and 6 Will. 

 IV. chap. 62. It is here enacted that it shall not 



be lawful for any justice of peace, or other person, 

 to administer or cause to be administered any oath, 

 affidavit, or solemn affirmation, touching any 

 matter of which he has no jurisdiction or cognis- 

 ance. To some extent it is left to the discretion cf 

 the justice whether the particular matter is one as 

 to which it is proper to administer an oath. 



Of late years there have been made many altera- 

 tions of the law as to oaths in relief of persons 

 having conscientious scruples. Kelief in this direc- 

 tion was first granted to Quakers, Moravians, and 

 Separatists ; they were allowed tn make affirma- 

 tion, whether as witnesses or on other occasions 

 where an oath was formerly required ( see AFFIRMA- 

 TION*). A further concession was made in 1854 to 

 those who, not lieing Quakers, yet refused to take 

 the oath from sincere conscientious motives, such 

 being allowed also to affirm. Previous to 1869 

 atheists and persons who admitted that they had 

 no religious belief were excluded from giving 

 evidence in courts of justice. This exclusion of the 

 testimony of atheists was put an end to, and at the 

 same time the principle of substituting affirmations 

 for oaths was largely extended by the Evidence 

 Further Amendment Act of 1869 (32 and 33 Viet, 

 chap. 68 ). This statute provides, ' If any person 

 called to give evidence in any court of justice, 

 whether in a civil or criminal proceeding, shall 

 object to take an oath, or shall lie objected to as 

 incompetent to take an oath, such person shall, if 

 the presiding judge is satisfied that the taking of 

 an oath would have no binding effect on his con- 

 science,' make a promise and declaration in a statu- 

 tory form (sect. 4). When in 1880 Mr Bradlaugli, 

 member for Northampton, claimed to make an 

 affirmation under these Evidence Amendment Acts 

 in lieu of taking the usual parliamentary oath, a 

 select committee of the House of Commons reported 

 that the acts did not apply to the oath taken by 

 members of parliament. This view was confirmed 

 in 1883 by the courts of law in the case of Clarke v. 

 Bradlaugli, 7 Q.B.D. 38. In 1883 the government 

 brought in a bill permitting members of parliament 

 to affirm, but it was lost. Finally, however, in 

 1888, a short statute, 51 and 52 Viet. chap. 46, 

 provides that every person upon objecting to be 

 sworn, and stating as the ground of such objection 

 either that he has no religious belief, or that the 

 takin" of an oath is contrary to his religious belief, 

 shall ) permitted to make his solemn affirmation, 

 instead of taking an oath, in all places and for all 

 purposes where an oath is and shall 1* required by 

 law, which affirmation shall ! of the same force 

 and effect as if he had taken the oath ; and if any 

 person making such affirmation shall wilfully, 

 falsely, and corruptly affirm anything which, if 

 affirmed on oath, would have amounted to perjury, 

 he shall be liable to prosecution as if he had com- 

 mitted perjury. Further, the Act 52 and 53 Viet, 

 chap. 63, sect. 3, provides that in every statute 

 passed since 1850, unless a contrary intention 

 appears, the expressions ' oath ' and 'affidavit,' in 

 the case of persons allowed for the time being to 

 affirm or declare instead of swearing, include 

 affirmation and declaration, and the expression 

 'swear,' in the like case, includes affirm and 

 declare. All the enactments relating to the ad- 

 ministration of oaths are consolidated by the 

 statute 52 Viet. chap. 10, known as the Commis- 

 sioners for Oatlis Act. See Stringer, Oaths and 

 Affirmations in Great Britain (1889). United 

 States statutes permit the making of affirmation by 

 those who object to take oaths. Some states grant 

 further relaxations than others. 



Oats (Avina), a genus of edible grasses, con- 

 taining many species, among which are some valu- 

 able for the grain which they produce, and some 

 useful for hay. The Linnean genus A vena, as now 



