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Perjury

Perjury

Summary

“An offence against public justice, being a crime committed when a lawful oath is administered by any that has authority, to any person in any judicial proceeding, who swears absolutely and falsely in a matter material to the issue or cause in question.” Illinois law classified perjury as an “infamous” crime, along with offenses such as rape and

burglary

Illinois statute defined burglary as entering a house, shop, or other building in the nighttime, with the intent to commit a felony, such as larceny. The punishment for burglary and larceny was the same: imprisonment of not less than a year and not more than...

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. Upon being convicted of perjury, a person lost the right to vote, serve as a juror, and provide testimony in trials and was barred from holding any office of “honor, trust, or profit.”

“Perjury,” in Wharton, Law Lexicon, or Dictionary of Jurisprudence, 505; An Act relative to Criminal Jurisprudence [1 July 1833], Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois, p. 229, sec. 164; see also “Perjury,” in Bouvier, Law Dictionary, 2:257.

Comprehensive Works Cited

Wharton, J. J. S. The Law Lexicon, or Dictionary of Jurisprudence. . . London: Spettigue and Farrance, 1848.

The Public and General Statute Laws of the State of Illinois: Containing All the Laws . . . Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at Their First Session, Commencing December 1, 1834, and Ending February 13, 1835; and at Their Second Session, Commencing December 7, 1835, and Ending January 18, 1836; and Those Passed by the Tenth General Assembly, at Their Session Commencing December 5, 1836, and Ending March 6, 1837; and at Their Special Session, Commencing July 10, and Ending July 22, 1837. . . . Compiled by Jonathan Young Scammon. Chicago: Stephen F. Gale, 1839.

Bouvier, John. A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States of America, and of the Several States of the American Union; with References to the Civil and Other Systems of Foreign Law. 2 vols. Philadelphia: T. and J. W. Johnson, 1839.

Perjury

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