OATH. 



OATS. 





other persona from being witnesses. A Jew, a Mohammedan, and a 

 Hindu may be sworn as witnesses, but they must severally take the 

 oath in that form which is sanctioned by the usage of their country or 

 nation, and which they severally consider to be binding. (Omichund 

 r.Barker; Willes's 'Kep.' 541, and 1 Smith's 'Leading Cases.') It 

 follows that a person who avows atheism, or who does not profess 

 such belief as is stated above, cannot be sworn, and consequently 

 cannot be admitted to give testimony for judicial purposes. Children 

 also who are too young to understand the nature of an oath, and 

 adults who are too ignorant or too weak in intellect to understand 

 what is meant by an oath, cannot be sworn as witnesses. The offence 

 of declaring what is false, when a witness is examined upon oath, con- 

 stitutes perjury : the particular circumstances which must concur in 

 order that false-swearing shall be legal perjury are stated under that 

 head. [PEBJUIIT.] 



Declarations made by a person under the apprehension of immediate 

 death are generally admitted as evidence in judicial proceedings, when 

 properly verified, " for the general principle," says Eyre, C.B., " upon 

 which evidence of this kind rests is, that it is of declarations made in 

 extremity, when the j>arty is at the point of death, and when every 

 hope in this world is gone, when every motive to falsehood is silenced, 

 and the mind is induced by the most powerful considerations to speak 

 the truth." A situation so solemn and awful is considered by the law 

 as creating an obligation equal to that imposed by an oath in court. 

 (1 Leach, 502 ; see also Alder son's remarks in Ashton's cose ; 2 Lewin, 

 CC. 147). Quakers also, in all civil cases, were allowed by the statute 

 7 4 8 Win. III., c. 34, to give their evidence on affirmation ; and now 

 the affirmation of Quakers, Moravians, Separatists, and others who 

 having been Quakers or Moravians conscientiously object to taking 

 oaths (3 4 4 Wm. IV., c. 4'J, and c. 82; and 1 42 Viet., c. 77>. a 

 admissible in all judicial proceedings, both civil and criminal. (See 

 also 17 and 18 Viet., c. 125, s. 20.) When a defendant in chancery is 

 entitled to privilege of peerage, or as a lord of parliament, he is required 

 to give his answer to a bill upon honour only ; and in the case of a 

 corporation, the corporate body defendants put in their answer under 

 their common seal. Other defendants are required to put in their 

 answer upon oath. For other matters connected with judicial evidence, 

 aee EVIDEXCK. 



An oath is required in England in a great many eases besides 

 judicial proceedings, as for instance, on admission to places of public 

 trust, and on a variety of other occasions. 



As oaths may be either voluntary or may be imposed by a political 

 superior, so they may be imposed either on extra-judicial or on judi- 

 cial occasions. Oaths which are imposed on occasion of judicial 

 proceedings are the most frequent in this country, and the occasions 

 are the most important to the interests of society. The principle on 

 which an oath is administered on judicial occasions in this : it is (up- 

 posed that an additional security is thereby acquired for the veracity 

 of him who takes the oath. 



There are occasions on which oaths are treated lightly, on which he 

 who imposes the oath, he who takes it, and the community who are 

 witnesses to it, treat the violation of it as a trivial matter. Such occa- 

 sions as these furnish Bentham with arguments against the efficacy of 

 oaths on all occasions. Suppose we admit, with Bentham, as we do 

 merely for the sake of the argument, that " on some occasions oaths go 

 with the English clergy for nothing ; " and this, notwithstanding the 

 fact, which nobody can doubt, " that among the English clergy believers 

 are more abundant than unbelievers." The kind of oaths " which go 

 for nothing " are not mentioned by Bentham, but they may be con- 

 jectured. Now, if all oaths went for nothing with the clergy, or with 

 any other body of men, the dispute would be settled. But this is not 

 the fact. If in any way it has become the positive morality of any 

 body of men that a certain kind of oath should go for nothing, each 

 individual of that body, with respect to that kind of oath, has the 

 opinion of his body. He does not believe that such oath, if broken, 

 will bring on him divine punishment, and therefore such oath wan idle 

 ceremony. But if there is any oath, the violation of which he thinks 

 will bring on him divine punishment, his opinion as to that kind of 

 oath is not at all affected by his opinion as to the other kind of oath. 

 Now, oaths taken on judicial occasions are by the mass of mankind 

 red to be oaths of the latter kind, and therefore they have an 

 influence on the great majority of those who take them. Whether 

 society will in time so far improve as to render it safe to dispense with 

 this ceremony in judicial proceedings, cannot be affirmed or denied ; 

 but a legislator who knows what man now U, will require better reasons 

 for the abolition of judicial oaths than Bentham has given. For some 

 able remarks on this part of the subject, the reader is referred to 

 Mr. Best's admirable treatise on the 'Law of Evidence,' 3rd edit., 

 pp. >; 



How far the requisition oi an oath may be injurious in excluding 

 testimony in certain cases, and how far oaths on solemn and important 

 occasions may be made most efficacious, and in what cases it may be 

 advisable to substitute declarations in lieu of oaths, are not matters of 

 consideration here. It is enough here to show that an oath U a sanction 

 or security to some extent, if the person who takes it fears divine 

 iment in case he should violate it; and that thin, and no other, 

 is the ground on which the oath in imposed. 



Indeed it is evident that in English procedure the professed t>i>inion 



or belief of the person who takes the oath is the only reason for which 

 courts of justice either admit or refuse to receive his evidence ; and 

 this is shown by the questions which may be put to a witness when he 

 comes to deliver his evidence in a court of justice. (See L. C. J. Willes's 

 judgment in Omichund v. Barker, Willes, 541.) 



There is some difficulty in stating accurately how far oaths were 

 required from witnesses in Roman procedure under the republic and 

 the earlier emperors. In addition to what has been stated, the reader 

 may refer to Cicero, ' Pro Q. Rose. Comoed.,' c. 15, &c. ; Noodt, ' Op. 

 Omn.,' ii. 479, ' De Testibus ; ' to the commentary of Asconius on the 

 Verrine Orations ; and to Zimmern's treatise on ' Civil Procedure among 

 the Romans,' 135 & 150. By a constitution of Constautine, all wit- 

 nesses were required to give their testimony on oath ; and this was 

 again declared by a constitution of Justinian. (' Cod.' 4, 20, 9. 16. 19.) 



Many persons conscientiously object to the taking of an oath on 

 religious grounds, and particularly with reference to our Saviour's pro- 

 hibition (Matth., v. 33). On the subject of oaths in general the reader 

 may consult Grotius, ' De Jure,' B. 4 P., lib. ii., c. 13 ; Paley's ' Moral 

 Philosophy ;' Tyler's ' Origin and History of Oaths ; ' the ' Law Magazine,' 

 vol. xii. ; and the work of Bentham already referred to. 



OATS (Avma tativa) is a well-known species of the genus Avena, a 

 plant of the family of the Gramineas. [AvEXA, in NAT. HIST. Div.] 

 We shall here only consider those varieties which are cultivated for 

 their grain, principally as food for horses, and in some cases for men 

 also, when ground into oatmeal or grits. 



The great use of oats, and the ease with which they are raised on 

 almost every kind of soil, from the heaviest loam to the lightest sand, 

 have made them occupy a place in almost every rotation of crops. 

 Before agriculture had been subjected to regular rules, the result of 

 long experience, the land was often sown as long as any return could 

 be obtained, before any means of recruiting it with manure were 

 thought of ; and the last crop which would return any increase of the 

 seed was generally oats. After this, the land, no longer repaying the 

 labour of ploughing and sowing, was abandoned, till, by length of time, 

 by the decomposition of roots and weeds, and the replenishment by the 

 action of atmospheric solvents of the store of inorganic matter in a 

 soluble condition, some renewed fertility was produced. The exhaust- 

 ing character of the plant is to some extent explained by the quantity 

 of mineral matter removed from one acre by an ordinary crop of, say 

 48 bushels : 96 Ibs. of soluble silica, 23 Ibs. of phosphoric acid, and 

 30 Ibs. of potash are thus taken from the land. Some farmers, on 

 account of the exhausting character of the crop, prefer buying all 

 their oats in the market to raising them on their own land. Where 

 the soil is well adapted to the growth of wheat and barley, which bear 

 a better price, this may be a judicious plan ; but as a general rule, it 

 is always more profitable to raise .pats for home consumption than to 

 trust to a fluctuating market. With proper management, a crop of 

 oats may give as great a profit on the best land as any other crop, when 

 it is considered that it requires less manure 'and produces an abundance 

 of straw, which is very fit for the winter food of horses and cattle, 

 especially when aided by roots or other succulent food. There are nearly 

 2,000,000 acres of oats grown annually in Ireland, nearly 1,000,000 

 acres in Scotland, and probably 1,250,000 acres in England. This is 

 four times as much as of wheat in Ireland, four times as much as of 

 wheat in Scotland, and one-third as much as of wheat in England. 

 The colder climate of the two former districts over the greater part of 

 their surface is what makes the oat the more prevalent crop. 



The best oats are raised in Scotland and in Fricsland, and in both 

 countries the land is carefully cultivated. In Scotland, oats are gene- 

 rally sown on a grass layer which has been in that state for some 

 and sometimes on old pastures which are broken up for the purpose. 

 The crops exceed in bulk and weight of grain all that the most sanguine 

 person, unacquainted with the system, would expect, and in many 

 seasons, not favourable for the wheat crop, oats are much more profit- 

 able. Wherever the land is not of a good quality, and wheat is apt to 

 fail, oats are a much safer crop, especially in retentive soils, as rye is 

 on poor sands. 



When oats are sown after turnips, cabbages, or any other green crop, 

 the land should be well ploughed, if the green crop was not consumed 

 on the spot, and a moderate supply of manure will be well repaid by 

 the increased produce. A heavy loam is best suited for oats : they 

 require a certain degree of moisture, and a deep soil is very favourable 

 to their growth. On land which has been trenched, or where the sub- 

 soil j dough has been used, after careful draining if required, oats will 

 thrive wonderfully, without requiring so rich- a soil as barley or wheat. 

 The roots are hardier and have a'stronger vegetative power. When 

 once they have struck deep into the soil, a good crop, according to Ine- 

 quality of the land, may be relied on. 



When oats are sown after artificial grosses, the land i seldom 

 ploughed more than once, and the seed is sown on the fresh mould 

 which has been turned up ; but unless the land be very free from 

 weeds, it would be better to plough the sward with a shallow furrow 

 early in autumn. Before winter the scarifier would break the rotten 

 sward, which might then be buried deep by another ploughing. The 

 land would be ready for sowing early in spring, which is a great 

 advantage, both as to the quality of the oat crop and the earlier 

 harvest, especially in those districts where the latter part of the 

 autumn is apt to be stormy and raiuy. The laud thus treated would 



