The record-union., 1893-11-24
CoURTs-MARTIAL OATHS
How They Are Administered to Those
of Different Faiths.

HOW 1n6y Are ADMINISTERED lDOSS
of Differsnt Faiths.
Ever since there have been courts-mar-
tal particular stress has been placed
upon the matter of administering the
oath to the witnesses. In order that it
may be binding and the loophole OF in
formality may be, as far as possible, re-
duced, it has been the custom 10 swear
witnesses in the manner considered most
binding in their native lands. The march
OF civilization has, in this instance,
tended toward accepting the methods for
Protestants and Roman Catholics en-
ployed in this country as those best
suited to impress upon witness the
solemnity and significance of the oath,
though there are occasions when 1t be-
| comes necessary 10 resort to other meth
DDS
All court-martial witnesses who are Pro-
testants are sworn by laying their right
hand ungloved, on the Bible, closed or
open, While the oath is reclted. kissing the
book is frequently required III addition
to the laying on of the hand. Raising the
right hand and keeping it raised during
the recital of the oath is also form
adopted by number. There are many
who prefer to affirm rather than to swear,
and those are accommodated by saying:
You do solemnly AFFIRM" instead of
| "solemnly swear" the right hand being
raised or placed on the Bible as before.
Formerly it was required to place the
right hand on the open Evangelists.
In swearing Roman Catholics the Bible
is closed and has marked on the outer
cover a cross, generally cut out of white
paper and pasted on Sometimes cruci-
fix is placed upon it, which the witness,
after the oath is recited, kisses when there
is any suspicion in the mind of the Presi-
dent of the cOurt-martial, or III that of
any of its members. The witness, if
Roman Catholic, after kissing the cross,
is frequently directed to cross himself.
For convenience, the oaths to be ad-
ministered by the President of the court
to the Judge Advocate of the court. and
! to the witnesses that are called before it
to give testimony, are often written out
on paper and pasted on one of the covers
of the Bible, so as to be at hand to refresh
the memory of him whose duty it is to
administer the oaths.
| The Jews are customarily sworn by the
five books of Moses and the great God of
Israel, that the evidence they give shall
be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
bat tho truth. Frequently, however, there
is no departure in the methods used with
this race from that which ordinarily OBJ
tains.
The statutes in the time of George w.,
King of England, contained several sec
| tions in relation to the administration of
the oath in various cases, and among
them are one or two referring to the
| Quakers as well as to the Moravians.
These statutes havelDeen embraced in our
own methods OF procedure, and they al
low people of the sects named solemnly,
sincerely and truly to declare and affirm
that the evidence which they give shall
be the truth, the whole truth, and so
forth.
The Scotch Covenanters have always
held that holding up the right hand is
sufficiently binding. consequently they
do not think it at all necessary to either
place the hand upon the Bible or kiss the
holy book.
Mohammedans think the oath only
positively binding when they are sworn
/ upon the Koran, while the Hindoo pre-
ters to swear by touching with his hand
! the foot of a Brahmin.
| In this country the Chinese do not in
| sist upon the same methods that were
once in force. Very likely the chinaware
| dealers wish they did, as they are so
much more numerous than when the fol-
| lowing was their custom: In England
at the Old Bailey Prison, a Chinaman
was presented as witness in an import
| ant case, and for some time the nature of
an oath and all that it implied could not
! be impressed upon him. Neither could
! the authorities quite make out just what
the Mongolian did consider binding. FL
nally, through the aid of an Interpreter,
it was decided to break saucer over the
head Of the proposed witness. When this
was done the Chinaman appealed to the
Supreme Being whom he worshiped,
praying that his own body might be
broken into as many pieces as the saucer