405 



PERMANGANIC ACID. 



PERSEUS. 



408 



knowledge of the facts, and sworn to speak the truth, their miscon- 

 duct in giving a false decision might be justly treated as perjury. 

 As population and civilisation increased, the nature of the trial by 

 jury became changed, and witnesses were called in order to inform the 

 jurors respecting facts of which the latter were commonly ignorant, 

 though the institution was originally founded upon the presumption 

 that they must necessarily be acquainted with them. It is probable 

 that this alteration did not take place at once, but that it was one of 

 those gradual introductions by means of which laws silently adapt 

 themselves to changes in national habits and circumstances. At all 

 events, there is no trace in the statutes or in the reported proceedings 

 of the courts, of any penal law against perjury in witnesses, as dis- 

 tinguished from that of jurors, earlier than the reign of Henry VIII. 

 The date of the introduction of the witness's oath to speak the truth, 

 in use at the present day, is unknown, and no form of process for 

 securing the attendance of witnesses (except where they were added to 

 the jury) seems to have existed before the reign of Elizabeth. 

 These facts tend to show that the offence of perjury has been gradu- 

 ally moulded into its present definite character, by the corresponding 

 change in the functions of the jury. This change however was 

 complete in the time of Sir Edward Coke, as he defines perjury 

 nearly in the same terms in which it is described in the modern text- 

 books. (3 ' Inst.,' 163.) 



A defendant in equity is guilty of perjury by false swearing in his 

 answer to a plaintiff's bill. He is in fact also a witness, for he is 

 bound to answer on oath to the matter contained in the bill, and 

 the plaintiff may read the whole or any integral portion of the 

 answer as evidence against him. In the case of an answer in equity, 

 the offence of false swearing falls exactly within the definition given 

 above. 



The punishments of perjury by the common law were, fine and 

 Imprisonment, and the pillory, which latter punishment was abolished 

 in 1537. Tu these was added an incident probably derived from 

 the punishment of jurors in ancient times, namely, a perpetual in- 

 capacity to give evidence in courts of justice. A statute of Geo. II. 

 allowed imprisonment with hard labour for seven years, or transpor- 

 tation for a like period, to be imposed as the punishment for this 

 offence; the effect of recent enactments has been that perjury is now 

 punishable by imprisonment, with or without hard labour, or penal 

 servitude for that term. 



Subornation of perjury consists in wilfully procuring any person 

 to commit perjury ; and it is essential to this offence that the false oath 

 should be actually taken. The same punishment is assigned to sub- 

 ornation as to perjury. 



Besides perjury and subornation of perjury at common law, the 

 statute 5 Eliz., a. 9, contains a legislative enactment respecting these 

 offences ; but a* this enactment is more limited than the common 

 law, both in the definition of the crime itself and in the punish- 

 ment to be applied to it, it has seldom been founded upon in recent 

 times ; and within the last century there have been few if any instances 

 of prosecutions under this statute. There are also many statute* by 

 which oaths are required a* a sanction to statements of facts under a 

 variety of circumstance*, and otherwise than in judicial proceedings ; 

 and theae statute* frequently declare that false (wearing in such ease* 

 hall amount to perjury, and be punishable a* such. 



In those ease* in which a eoleuin declaration may be taken in lieu of 

 an oath [OATH], the offence of making the declaration falsely is the 

 same as perjury, and punishable in like manner. 



PERMANGANIC ACID. [MAXOANME.] 



PERMUTATIONS. [COMBINATIONS.] 



PERNAMBUCO-WOOD, COLOURING MATTER OF, [BBAZIL- 

 WOOD, COIOURISO MATTER or.] 



PERPENDICULAR (overhanging), the name given in geometry to 

 a line or plane which meets another line or plane without inclining to 

 one side or the other, so as to appear to proceed directly towards the 

 other line or plane. The subject will be considered in a mathematical 

 point of view under RIGHT ANGLE. 



PMIPETI'AL MOTION. [MoTlOK.l 



PERPETUATION OF TESTIMONY. A party who has an 

 interest in property, but not such an interest as enables him im- 

 mediately to prosecute his claim, or a party who Is in possession of 

 property and fear* that his right may at some future time be dis- 

 puted, is entitled to examine witnesses in order to preserve that 

 testimony, which may be lost by the death of such witnesses before 

 he can prosecute his claim, or before he is called on to defend his 

 right. This t* effected by such party filing a bill in equity against 

 such p< reins as are interested hi disputing hi* claim, in winch bill he 

 prays that the testimony of hi* witnesses may be perpetuated. This 

 is the only relief that the bill prays. If the prayer of the bill is 

 granted, the evidence of the witnesses will be taken in the usual way. 

 The depositions, when taken, are sealed up and retained in the custody 

 of the court. When they are required to be used a* evidence, they 

 can be so used, by permission of the court, by the party who ha* filed 

 his bill or those who claim under him, and they can be read by the 

 direction of the court a* evidence on a trial at law, if it is then 

 proved that the witnesses are dead, or from any sufficient cause can- 

 not attend. If the witnesses are living when the trial take* place, 

 and can attend, they must be produced. A defendant to such a bill 



may cross-examine the witnesses and he is entitled to use their 

 depositions as evidence in his favour at a future trial. (1 ' Mer.,' 

 434.) 



A bill to perpetuate testimony may be filed by any person who 

 has a vested interest, however small, in that thing to which he lays 

 claim. The parties, defendants to such bill, are those who have 

 adverse interest to the plaintiff. In order that the testimony which 

 the plaintiff seeks to perpetuate may be good evidence for him at the 

 trial, he must make all proper parties defendants to his bill, who may 

 be generally described to be such persons as would be uecessary parties 

 to a bill in equity by the plaintiff to enforce or maintain his rights, if 

 a court of equity could take cognisance of the matter, and the question 

 between the plaintiff and such parties could then be raised. The 

 evidence so taken may be read at the hearing of a cause, or at a trial at 

 common law against all such parties to the bill, and those who claim 

 through or under them. The act 5 & 6 Viet., c. 69, entitled " an act 

 for perpetuating testimony in certain cases" makes no change in the 

 procedure of the courts in suits of this kind. 



A bill to perpetuate testimony must not be confounded with th 

 practice of examining witnesses De bene esse. The bill to perpetuate 

 testimony has been already described. The examination of witnesses 

 De bene esse is only resorted to when an action has been brought, and 

 the plaintiff is afraid that his witnesses, owing to age or infirmity, may 

 die before the trial can take place, or he has only one witness to an 

 important fact. Both these are in a sense proceedings to preserve or 

 perpetuate testimony ; but the one is applicable before the matter 

 which may be in dispute can be the subject of judicial investigation, 

 and the other when an action has been already brought. But under 

 the reformed practice of the courts of chancery and common law a 

 bill to examine witnesses De bene esse appears to be no longer 

 necessary. 



Witnesses may be examined De bene esse in a suit in equity, when 

 it is necessary to secure their evidence at a period of the suit prior to 

 the regular time for examination of witnesses in the cause. But this 

 is only a provisional BTn.mina.tinn, and the evidence cau only be used in 

 case the witnesses cannot be examined at the proper time for the 

 examination of witnesses in the cause. The value of the practice is 

 much diminished in consequence of changes in modern practice, by 

 the operation of which the length of time between the institution 

 of a suit and its coming to the issue is greatly abridged. (Daniel's 

 ' Ch. Pract.,' 3rd ed., p. 736.) 



PERPETUITY, the technical term for a yearly payment or annuity 

 which is to continue for ever ; also called a perpetual annuity. 



PERPETUITY (Law). [SETTI.EMEST.] 



PERSEPHONE (n*pap6rr,), or PERsEPHONEIA (Htpat&vit*), 

 called by the Romans PROSERPINA, was the daughter of Zeus and 

 Demeter. (Hesiod. ' Theog.' 913.) She was carried oil' by Pluto while 

 gathering flowers in the Nysian plain ( Homer, 'Hymn in Deuiet.,' 1 7), and 

 made the queen of the regions of the dead. Demeter, inconsolable for 

 the loss of her daughter, afflicted the world with sterility ; till at length 

 Zeus consented to the return of Persephone to her mother; but as 

 he had eaten food in the regions below, she was obliged to spend one 

 third of the year with Pluto, and was allowed to pass the other two- 

 thirds with Demeter. The tale of the rape of Persephone is related at 

 length in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, and by Ovid and Claudian. 

 The last two writer* state that Proserpina was gathering flowers near 

 the oity of Enna in Sicily, when she was carried off by Pluto. In 

 Homer) Persephone is mentioned as the goddess of Hades (' Od.,' xi. 

 217); but her rape by Pluto is not mentioned either in the ' Iliad ' or 

 ' Odyssey.' 



Persephone is frequently called Kora (Ko>i|), that is, the ' Maiden,' 

 by the Attio writers. This goddess and her mother Demeter were 

 also worshipped under the name of the ' Great Goddesses ' (<u n(yd\ai 

 6tal, Pausan , viii.*31, g 1.) [DKMETKR.] 



Representations of Persephone are very numerous in Greek art. 

 The most Common in pure Greek sculpture are in connection with her 

 mother ; several are mentioned under Demeter. Later she is perhaps 

 most commonly represented a* being carried off by Pluto : this was a 

 very favourite type on Grseco-Rornan sarcophagi, referring to the grief 

 caused by the untimely or unexpected carrying away of a beloved one by 

 Death. Sometimes Persephone is seen enthroned beside Pluto. She 

 appears a* a younger Demeter, but is of a graver and more severe 

 countenance : the Hera of the lower regions. 



PERSEPOLITAN ARCHITECTURE. [PERSIA* ARCHITECTURE.] 



PERSEUS (constellation). The mythological story of Perseus is 

 well known : in the heavens the constellation is surrounded by Andro- 

 meda, Aries, Taurus, Auriga, Camelopardalus, and Cassiopeia. Of the 

 two principal stars a and (the latter of which is called Algol), the 

 former is situated in the breast of the figure, the latter in the head of 

 Medusa, which he carries in his left hand. The following are tUe 

 principal stars ; 



No. in Catalogue 

 Character. of FLanulecd. 



(P 1 ) 

 t 



o 



16 

 23 

 25 



No. in Catalogue 

 of British 



Association, 



871 

 947 

 953 



MignltutlC. 



4 

 I 

 4 



