The suburban citizen., 1902-06-28
oArAs STRANGE ANo MIGHTY.
Many ODD Customs of Swearing Court
Witnessed,

uany Odu CuHtOtnb OI bWenrlnE
Witnessed,
"HOw very few persons know the
history and nature Of the judicial oath
aud atfirmations administered in courts
Of law" said Lawyer Emanuel NJ
Friend yesterday to an American and
Journal reporter. Mr. Friend de-
scribed the oath as a solemn atfirma'
lion ana attestation or promise made
lnder an immediate sense of respon'
slbillty to God, and the invoking Of
1vine vengeance in case Of falsely
speaking under the same.
"Oaths are not the creation Of munl'
;ipal law" said Mr. Friend, "fGr they
nave been in use from earliest ages,
ana it has always been considered as
supplying the strongest hold on the
conscience of man as a pledge Of
future conduct, or guarantee Of verac'
ty.
"The substance of an oath has moth
ing to do with Christianity, and Is used
IN all countries; though forms differ
The substance is the same. which is
that the Deity is called upon to wit
ness the truth of what is said. as, for
Instance, a Jew is sworn on the Pen
,ateuch or Old Testament. with his
nat on, closing his oath with, so help
me Jehova'; and the Mohammedan on
the Koran; Gentoo by touching with
his hand the foot of a Brahmin or
orlest of his religion: a Brahmin by
touching the hand of another such
priest; a Chinaman, by breaking
china saucer.
"The swearing Of n Chinaman is
lone thus: On getting into the witness
box he kneels down. and china sau-
,er being placed in his hands he strikes
Il against the brass rail In front OF
he box and breaks it, The oath trans
lated into English is: You shall tell
the truth, the whole truth Then the
saucer is cracked and the officer ad-
,ninisterlng the oath continues: If you
10 not tell the truth, your soul will be
cracked like the saucer.
"Chinese are also sworn by what is
known as the joss stick burning,
which is a ceremony Of burning one
Of Jhe sticks used by their Joss in
he presence of the Joss, which sig
vlfies that their idol is called upon to
witness the vcracity of what they
speak.
"Aflrmatons consist Of the raising
If the right hand above the head, and,
instead of swearing TO the truth, the
witness afiirms. In olden times theft
was punished by the burning of the
oalm of the right hand of the culprit,
ana when the hand was raised. if the
scar caused by the burning was there,
The testimony OF the witness was not
AIKEN. 1t IS also said that the index
and second finger OF the thief were
2mputatcd, and that when being
called upon as Il witness and the right
hand was raised for the purpose Of
ltiirmance. il one or both of these fin
gers were missing, the testimony could
not be taken.
THE deyout Hebrew, in affirming,
EulsNS luC IlGuA tlAih tAltilhb AhN
thumb, index and second fingers,
which forms the letter Scheen, mean
.lg the first letter of the word Schade
81 God.
"The dcvout Christian aftirms in
the same manner and it Is said that
he three fingers represent the Trim
,ty. The forms of oaths vary accord
ing 20 whore and for the purposes
csed, and are regulated principally by
Usage. and atfirmations are permitted
FOR the reason that in many instances,
persons. by reason of religious cOnvic-
ton, are prevented from taking the
oath. But, as far as legal effect is
concerned, the affirmation answers all
the purposes of an oath, and when
false testimony is given, where one has
affirmed, the legal crime Of perjury
exists inst the came as though an oath
were taken"