Your Options When Being Sworn In Before You Answer Questions In Court

Most courts have a fairly wide variety, including the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Koran, and sometimes they have holy books from other religions as well.

There are, however, a variety of reasons why you might not wish to do this. In some religions, for instance, it’s prohibited to make that kind of oath. Other people simply don’t believe in God and don’t want to make an oath because that would be meaningless. For those people, a solemn affirmation is just as legally binding. In court you’ll be asked to simply raise your right hand and solemnly affirm, or promise to tell the truth. You don’t have to memorize anything; you’ll simply repeat the words after the court clerk who will guide you through it.

The rationale of making an oath of affirmation is to grab the conscience and to make it clear to the witness that this is a formal proceeding. What you say in court must be the truth and if it turns out not to be the truth, you can be prosecuted for perjury. It doesn’t matter whether you took an oath on the Bible or you affirmed. The impact on you as far as telling a lie in court is exactly the same and just as serious.

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If you, or someone you care about, is dealing with criminal law issues in the Toronto,Ontario Region, contact Adler Bytensky Prutschi for a consultation.