Oath - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition oath

Definition :

Oath [fr. ath, Sax.], an appeal to God to witness the truth of a statement. It is called a corporal oath, where a witness, when he swears, places his right hand on the Holy Evangelists.

The Christian religion, though it prohibits swearing, excepts oaths required by legal authority (Art. Ch. of Engl. xxxix.). All who believe in a God, the avenger of falsehood, have always been admitted to give evidence, but the old rule was, that all witnesses must take an oath of some kind. Very gradually, however, the legislature has relaxed this rule, and the privilege of affirming (see AFFIRMATION) instead of taking an oath has now been universally granted by the (English) Oaths Act, 1888, by which--

Every person upon objection to being sworn, and stating, as the ground of such objection, either that he has no religious belief, or that the taking of an oath is contrary to his religious belief, shall be permitted to make his solemn affirmation instead of taking an oath in all places and for all purposes where an oath is or shall be required by law, which affirmation shall be of the same force and effect as if he had taken the oath.

By s. 3 of the (English) Oaths Act, 1888, if an oath has been duly taken the fact that the person taking it had no religious belief does not affect its validity, and swearing with uplifted hand is authorised by the enactment of s. 5 that--

If any person to whom an oath is administered desires to swear with uplifted hand, in the form and manner in which an oath is usually administered in Scotland, he shall be permitted so to do, and an oath shall be administered to him in such form and manner without further question.

Swearing in this fashion has by the Oaths Act, 1909, been made the usual form of taking any oath, s. 2 enacting that--

2.--(1) Any oath may be administered and taken in the form and manner following:-

The person taking the oath shall hold as New Testament, or, in the case of a Jew, the Old Testament, in his uplifted hand, and shall say or repeat after the officer administering the oath the words 'I swear by Almighty God that ........... ,' followed by the words of the oath prescribed by law.

(2) The officer shall (unless the person about to take the oath voluntarily objects thereto, or is physically incapable of so taking the oath) administer the oath in the form and manner aforesaid without ques-tion:

Provided that, in the case of a person who is

neither a Christian nor a Jew, the oath shall be administered in any manner which is now lawful.

The (English) Statutory Declarations Act, 1835, abolishes unnecessary and extra-judicial oaths, and empowers any justice of the peace, notary public, or other officer authorised to administer an oath to take voluntary declarations in the form specified in the Act. And any person wilfully making such declaration false in any material particular is guilty of a misdemeanour.

Promissory oaths are those required to be taken by persons on their appointment to certain offices, as the oath of allegiance, of which the present form is, 'I--, do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty [King George VI.], his heirs and successors, according to law.'

These oaths have undergone much revision of late years by Parliament. By the (English) Promissory Oaths Act, 1868, a number of unnecessary oaths have been abolished, and declarations substituted. That Act also provides new forms of the Oath of Allegiance, Judicial Oath, and Official Oath to be taken by particular officers. The (English) Promissory Oaths Act, 1871, expressly repeals a number of Acts already impliedly repealed.

The (English) Parliamentary Oaths Act, 1866 (29 Vict. c. 19), requires the oath of allegiance to be taken by members of Parliament before sitting or voting, and the (English) Promissory Oaths Act, 1868, substitutes a new form of oath, but does not otherwise alter the Act of 1866. By the Act of 1866 a Quaker or other person, permitted by law to affirm, may make affirmation instead of oath, but an atheist, although permitted by law (see AFFIRMA-TION) to affirm in a Court of justice, could not affirm under this Act, Clarke v. Bradlaugh, (1881) 7 QBD 38, and in Mr. Bradlaugh's case the House of Commons, when he was first elected, refused to allow him to make oath, so that he could not take his seat; but Mr. Bradlaugh, on being reelected to a subsequent Parliament, made oath without objection.

The (English) Oaths Act, 1888 (see ante), now allows an affirmation in all places and for all purposes.

The (English) Interpretation Act, 1889, by s. 3 enacts that in every Act passed after 1850--

The expression 'oath' and 'affidavit' shall, in the case of persons for the time being allowed by law to affirm or declare instead of swearing, include affirmation and declaration, and the expression 'swear' shall, in the like case, include affirm and declare.

In the (English) Perjury Act, 1911, the word 'oath' includes 'affirmation' and 'declaration,' and the word 'swear' includes 'affirm' and 'declare'; see

s. 15, and PERJURY.

The administering of unlawful oaths is an offence against the government, and punishable by penal servitude. The following statutes relate to this offence: 37 Geo. 3, c. 123; 39 Geo. 3, c. 79; 52 Geo. 3, c. 104; 57Geo. 3, c. 19; 1 Vict. c. 91.

As to 'Commissioners for Oaths,' see that title.

As to the oath to be taken by members of the Parliament of the Irish Free State, see the Irish Free State (Agreement) Act, 1922, Sched., art. 4.

The real purpose of the oath is that the person concerned must give an undertaking to bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution and uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India, Virji Ram Sutaria v. Nathalal Premji Bhanvadia, SC 1970 SC 765 (767): (1969) 1 SCC 77. [Constitution of India, Art. 173(a)]

Oath shall include affirmation and declaration in the case of persons by law allowed to affirm or declare instead of swearing. [General Clauses Act, 1897 (10 of 1897), s. 3(37)]

An oath is a 'form of attestation by which a person signifies that he is bound in conscience to perform an act faithfully and truthfully. It involves the Idea of calling in God to witness what is averred as truth, and it is supposed to be accompanied with an invocation of his vengeance, or a renunciation of his favour; in the event of falsehood'. It includes an affirmation. It is 'a pledge by the person taking it that his attestation or promise is made under an immediate sense of responsibility to God.' Similarly an affirmation in lieu of oath binds a person 'promises and binds himself to bear true allegiance to a particular sovereign or government and to support its constitution'.', Haridasan Palayil v. Speaker, 11th Kerala Legislative Assembly, AIR 2003 Ker 328 (see Constitution of India, Arts. 188, 193)

An oath is an appeal by a person to God to witness the truth of what he declares and an imprecation of divine punishment or vengeance on him if what he says is false. Its purpose is to secure the truth. It does not include those forms of attestation which were not accompanied by an imprecation. It is sometimes defined as an outward pledge given by the person taking it that his alteration or promise is made under an immediate sense of his responsibility to God, (Corpus Juris Secundum).

It has two very different meaning (1) a solemn appeal to God in attestation of the truth of a statement or the binding character of such a promise; (2) a statement or promise made under the sanction of such an appeal, Criminal Law, Rollin M. Perkins v. Ronald N. Boyce, 515 (3rd Edn., 1982).

In its broadest sense, an oath is any form of attestation by which a person signifies that he is bound in conscience to perform an act faithfully and truthfully. It invokes the idea of calling in God to witness what is averred as truth, and it is supposed to be accompanied with an invocation of his vengeance, or a renunciation of his favour, in the event of falsehood. The word 'oath' has been construed to include 'affirmation' in cases where, by law, an affirmation may be substituted for an oath''.. It has been said that an oath is a solemn adjuration to God to punish the affiant if he swears falsely, American Jurisprudence, 2nd End.