OATHS IN SCOTLAND.

We have already referred to the manner in which an oath is taken in Scotland, as being more solemn and impressive than we find the same act to be in England. The witness lifts up his hand, and the judge himself administers the oath to him: this last circumstance probably constitutes its greater solemnity; for I can conceive that our outward form, if observed with more reverence, and as it used to be, is at least equally impressive with the Scotch practice. This will not, indeed, be the case so long as the Crier of the Court thrusts hurriedly and unceremoniously a diminutive volume, taken from his waistcoat pocket, into the hand of the witness, and hastens it as unceremoniously to his mouth; but were the witness to lay his hand upon a Bible*, in size and character something like the Holy Book which he sees in the church, or one which he reads in his own home; and were the words of the oath uttered solemnly, and if possible by the judge himself; and were the witness then to bend down and reverently kiss the book, as it lies upon the desk before him, I conceive that our form would then be at least equally solemn with that of lifting up the hand.

* This custom of laying the hand upon a large volume containing the Holy Scriptures is still, I am informed, retained in the East India House. But I have never witnessed it.

And this, without any new legislative enactment, might be directed to be observed now by the magistrates and judges, on their own authority.

I have been favoured by the kind offices of Scotch lawyers with the following forms of oath now in use in Scotland.

Oath taken by the Jury in Criminal Trials, whether before the High Court of Justiciary or the Inferior Courts:

"You fifteen swear by God, and as you shall answer to God at the great day of judgment, that you will the whole truth say, and no truth conceal, so far as you pass upon this assize."

The oath in civil cases is, with a slight variation, the same.

Oath of Witnesses, whether in Civil or Criminal Causes:

"You swear by God, and as you shall answer to God at the great day of judgment, that you will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so far as you shall know or be asked at in this cause."

After taking the oath, the witnesses are then, in Scotch phraseology, " purged of malice and partial counsel," by the judge putting these questions:

Has

Have you any ill-will at either of the parties in this cause? (or the prisoner, in criminal trials.) any person instructed you what to say? or given, or promised you any thing for giving evidence?

The oath which was formerly administered to witnesses in the Commissary Court, but is now abolished, is thus described: "The witness kneels, with his right knee on a cushion, and placing his right hand upon one of the Holy Evangelists, pronounces these words after the judge,—I renounce all the blessings contained in this book, if I do not tell the truth; and may all the curses therein contained be my portion if I do not tell the truth: I swear by God, and as I shall answer to God at the day of judgment, that I will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."

None but Quakers, in Scotland, refuse to take the appointed oaths*. The objections once entertained by the Anti-burghers only regarded the acknowledgment of the spiritual authority of the magistrates of burghs; and are now no more. Peers voting at elections, and persons holding offices in Scotland, are sworn in the English form of imprecation [so it is there called], So help me God.-But this is regarded as an English

* I conclude that if there are any Separatists in Scotland, they refuse to be sworn.

oath. In some oaths prescribed since the Union with England, an appeal to the Almighty is introduced also at the end, thus,-"I do, in the presence of God, declare and swear that

and concluding," This is truth, as I shall answer to God."

CHAPTER X.

PERJURY.

WHATEVER definition we adopt, or to whatever form of oath we adhere, it is most evident, that instead of the indifference and recklessness which we witness every where throughout our own country, on no occasion is gravity of behaviour, and an exactness in weighing the truth of what we say, more necessary than when we bind ourselves by an oath*. Our words ought to be few, and our hearts full of awful apprehensions of the majesty of that God in whose presence we stand, and to whom we appeal; to whom all hearts are open, from whom no secret is hid, and who will bring every work, and word, and thought, into judgment at the dreadful day of doom. Whatever be the form of the obligation by which the soul binds itself to the truth, or whatever be its definition, it must be acknowledged by all that PERJURY is a sin of

* The observations of Isodorus on the sin of attempting to deceive the person who exacts the oath from us by any words of double meaning, or any subterfuges, however skilfully devised, are well worth attention. "With whatever device of words a man swears, God who is the witness of the conscience receives the oath in the sense which the person to whom he swears attaches to it; and the swearer is guilty of a double crime, the prostitution of the name of God, and the deceiving of his neighbour.-Ivon: xii. 36.