The herald., 1896-06-07
KISSING THE BOOK

| DaVlu SAID In haSte, remarked q
celebrated English judge, that all men
are liars, but say so deliberately" and
II we are to draw conclusions from the
sanctions that have ever accompanied
] the taking Of testimony In court civil
| ized man is of much the same opinion
| as the English Judge Certain 1t is
that from time imfief1oriAl, In every
nation and among every people, forms,
ceremonies and solemnities have sur
rounded the witness box.
In addition to this the most stringent
| penalties have been laid upon the crime
| OF perjury, so that at the initial stage
the witness is impressed, not only with
punishment In the life that now is. but
also with punishment in the life to come,
should he deviate from the truth. And
yet In spite of all these sanctions and
| safeguards 1t Is the common opinion
| that no crime is committed with more
i impunity than that of perjury and none
less frequently punished. In fact, many
| wise men are of the opinion that it
| would be far better for society and for
| the just administration of the law If no
| oaths were exacted from persons giving
testimony. Let their evidence stand
upon their private characters as men,
| just as 1t would in the ordinary business
transactions of life. Nine times out of
ten the exact truth would be more near
ly ascertained. When all witnesses are
put upon the same platform of credibil-
ity because of the oath they take, and
the result Is determined by quantity
rather than quality, two or three Rogue
Riderhoods could counterbalance a
Washington or Jay
kissing the book" is one of the for
malities tnat have gradually been abol-
ished in the older states of the Union
Maryland being one of the last to give
up this silly and altogether nasty re-
quirement. Whether it was the germ
theory of disease or the essential ab-
surdity of the form that enlightened the
Maryland statesmen on this matter does
not appear, but at all events, by a recent
enactment of the legislature no witness
is hereafter to be required to place his
lips upon the dirty covers of Bible be-
fore being suffered to give his testimony
in court.
Under the common law the original
mode of taking the oath was by laying
the hand on the Bible, which Lord Coke
says is called corporal oath, because
the witness toucheth with his hand some
part of the holy scriptures" Lord Hale
says: THE regular oath as allowed
by the laws Of England is: You swear
by touching the holy gospels, and in the
case Of Jew, you touch the book of
the law Of Moses
kissing the book came into vogue
some years subsequent to Lord Hale, so
as to make sure that the corporal or
bodily oath was taken, for witnesses
sometimes held the Bible in their gloved
hand, and 1t was insisted that some part
of the naked body must come in contact
with the holy scriptures in order to the
completion of a corporal oath.
An old English coronation oath was:
$50 help me God and these holy evan
gelists by me bodily touched upon this
molly altar
In the various nations there are many
curious forms of taking oaths to assure
truthfulness. A Hindoo law says: Let
a judge swear a Brahmin by his ver-
acity, a solder by his horses, his ele-
plants or his arms; an agriculturist by
his cows, his grain or his money; and
SOudra by all his crimes"
In Chinese courts, when a witness is
sworn, live cock is brought into court
and the head of the bird cut off. An
other form is for the witness to take in
his hands a saucer and say: In the face
of God l break this saucer; If it comes
together again Chnaman has told a lie
and expects not to live five days; If it
remains asunder Chinaman has told the
truth and escapes the vengeance of the
Almighty" He then smashes the sau-
Ger in pieces and becomes qualified wit
ness. One, and perhaps both, of these
forms have been used in California
witnesses
The ancient Jews swore by the Book
Of the Law; the Egyptians by the head
of their king, and the Greeks by one or
more of their numerous gods who was
supposed to have charge of the partic-
ular matter. The people of Already
swore by the waters of StyX and the
Romans by their faith and honor. The
Persians swore by the sun, while the
Celts in taking an oath laid their hand
upon a pillar of stone. The only bind
ing oath upon a Highlander is one
sworn upon the point of his dirk; he
cares nothing for an oath taken upon
the gospels or the cross.
The Russians swear by the cross and
the Germans and French by the uplifted
hand, as is common with us, concluding
with the formula, $50 help me God"
Many forms of oaths may be found in
Chaucer, Shakespeare and the elder dra-
matists. Hamlet swears Horatio and
Marcellus upon the hilt of his sword, and
Touchstone swears Rosalind and Celia
by their boards, which they had not, and
consequently could not be foresworn. In
theCenterburyTale the prioress swears
"by St. Elroy," the host "by my fathers
soul" the carpenters wife by St. Thorn
as of Kent" and the merchant "by ST.
Thomas of Inde."
The favorite oath of William the Con-
queror was by the splendor of God"
that of Henry TX. of France par la
vraye corps de Dieu.',
Innumerable other oaths even more
curious may be culled by the students
of history and Of literature.
All of which goes to prove that the
Psalmist's hasty assertion had some
foundation. For if man is not conscious