| 释义 |
perjury|ˈpɜːdʒərɪ|
Also 5–6 par-.
[a. AF. perjurie (rare OF. parjurie); in mod.F. parjure, ad. L. perjūrium false oath, oath-breaking, f. perjūr-āre to perjure.]
The action of swearing to a statement which is known to be false, or of taking an oath which it is not one's intention to keep; spec. in Law, The crime of wilfully uttering a false statement or testimony in reference to a matter material to the issue involved, while under an oath or affirmation to tell the truth, administered by a competent authority; the wilful utterance of false evidence while on oath.
In legal usage, perjury was first the offence of jurors in giving a wilfully false verdict, they being sworn to give a true verdict according to their knowledge; as an offence of witnesses it was apparently gradually evolved in connexion with the change in the nature of Trial by jury (q.v.); ‘there is no trace in the statutes, or in the reported proceedings of the courts, of any penal law against perjury in witnesses, as distinguished from that of jurors, earlier than the reign of Henry VIII’ (Penny Cycl. XVII. 459/2; but see quot. 1495. In this act ‘false serement’ appears to be the equivalent of ‘perjury’ in the modern sense).
[1292Britton iv. ix. §2 Parjurie est mensonge afermé par serment.] 1387–8T. Usk Test. Love i. vii. I. 51 Every ooth..muste haue these lawes, that is, trewe jugement and rightwysenesse;..if any of these lacke, the ooth is y-tourned in-to the name of perjury. 1436Rolls Parlt. IV. 501/2 The grete dredeles and unshamefast Perjurie, that orriblely contynueth, and dailly encresseth in the commune Jurrours of y⊇ said Roialme. 1477Earl Rivers Dictes 11 Enforce you not to cause them swere that ye knowe wil lye, lest ye be parteners to theyr pariury. 1495Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 25 §6 If perjury be commytted by proves in the Kinges Courte of the Chauncery or before the Kinges honorable Councell or els where, that..the..Chaunceller..make like proces to call in the supposed perjured persones. 1546in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford (1880) 180 John Lewes..shall for hys perjury..suffer xl dayes prysonment.., and also to ware a paper for perjury wythyn the seyd Cyty thre severall markett dayes. a1548[see paper n. 7 b]. a1634Coke On Litt. iii. lxxiv. (1648) 164 Perjury is a crime committed, when a lawfull oath is ministred..to any person, in any judiciall proceeding, who sweareth absolutely, and falsly in a matter materiall to the issue. 1782Cowper Table T. 418 When Perjury..Sells oaths by tale, and at the lowest price. 1840Penny Cycl. XVII. 459/2 Perjury, by the common law of England, is the offence of falsely swearing to facts in a judicial proceeding. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 171 Where there would be a premium on perjury, oaths..should be prohibited as irrelevant.
b. Applied also to the violation of a promise made on oath, the breaking of a vow or solemn undertaking; a breach of oath.
1532More Confut. Barnes viii. Wks. 792/2 That..running oute of religion in apostacy, breakynge of vowes, and freres wedding nunnes, and periury were no synne at all. 1550Bale Apol. 47 He withdrewe hys anger, putte vp hys swearde, and neuer thoughte anye synne in that periury or breakynge of hys vowe. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 736 The Ambassadours would not haue the truce proclaimed, thinking therby, to saue the Duke from periurie, which had sworne, neuer to conclude a peace, till [etc.]. 1632Massinger & Field Fatal Dowry iv. i, No pain is due to lover's perjury: If Jove himself laugh at it, so will I. 1871R. Ellis Catullus lxiv. 148 Lo they fear not promise, of oath or perjury reck not.
c. with a and pl.: An instance of the foregoing; a false oath; a wilful breach of oath.
c1440York Myst. xxvi. 75 Loo! sir, þis is a periurye. 1495Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 25 §1 The haynous and detestable perjuries dailly commytted within this realme in enquestes and Juries. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. ii. ii. 92 At Louers periuries They say Ioue laught. 1610Willet Hexapla Dan. 286 Their periuries,..profane oathes are notoriously knowne. 1719Young Busiris i. i, It is an oath well spent, a perjury Of good account in vengeance, and in love. 1840Macaulay Ess., Clive (1851) II. 520 The perjuries which have been employed against us.
d. Comb., as perjury-begetting, perjury-mongering, etc.
1802–12Bentham Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827) II. 397 Judges, by whom evidence in these perjury-begetting shapes has exclusively been received. 1826Hor. Smith Tor Hill (1838) III. 153 An exclusive command of the perjury-market. 1877Tennyson Harold v. i. 178 The perjury-mongering Count Hath made too good an use of Holy Church! |