“Do you swear that the evidence you shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?” This is the oath most often taken by witnesses in Canadian courts who choose to swear a religious oath. Everyone testifying in a court case must promise to tell the truth, but in Canada witnesses are no longer obligated to swear an oath on the Bible. They may swear a religious oath on another book of faith or make a ‘solemn affirmation’.
However, prior to testifying in court, you must swear to tell the truth. It is a criminal offence called perjury to intentionally give false evidence once you have been sworn in or affirmed. The dictionary defines perjury as the voluntary violation of an oath by giving witness to what is untrue. In Canadian law you may be liable to prison for up to 14 years for perjury.
The Book of Exodus chapter 20 verse 16 states, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.” In essence, do not commit perjury. A literal translation of the commandment is, “You shall not give answer as witness concerning your neighbour with deception.” The Hebrew word for witness is ayd. The ancient penalty for giving a false witness about events or people is, “If a malicious ayd arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord and before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days. The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So, you shall purge the evil from your midst. And the rest shall hear and fear and shall never again commit any such evil among you. Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” The penalty for perjury is to receive the same punishment as the accused was facing. Giving a false witness was taken seriously in early Biblical times and still is a grave crime today.
Perjury comes into English from the Latin “per” (a prefix often meaning harmfully) and “jurare” meaning to confess or to declare. Thus, witnesses who perjure themselves do harm to the truth. One of the Biblical adages states, “A worthless ayd mocks at justice.” (Proverbs 19:28) Any court system cannot function properly if people do not tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. In fact, the Bible encourages, “If anyone sins in that he hears a public adjuration to testify, and though he is a witness, whether he has seen or come to know the matter, yet does not speak, he shall bear his iniquity.” (Leviticus 5:1) A faithful citizen will come forward to give witness to the truth if possible.
As we have seen with the other commandments of Exodus there are positive actions to perform in connection with the ordinance to not perjure yourself. As Martin Luther encouraged 500 years ago, “You should defend your neighbour, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way.” Now putting that advice into practice would change conversations all over the place and put many magazines and news outlets out of circulation. As my mother used to remind me, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” Sage advice unless you are a witness in court.
Addendum: The United States constitution allows witnesses “to take the Fifth” and avoid telling the truth if it might cause an admission of their own guilt. That seems a bit nebulous to me as the whole point of a court trial is to uncover the truth. Or is it?
