Perjury
The Perjury (NI) Order 1979 criminalises perjury and false statements in relation to civil and criminal proceedings and in connection with formal legal documentation.
A person lawfully sworn as a witness or an interpreter in judicial proceedings who wilfully makes a statement material in that proceeding, which they know to be false, or do not believe to be true, is guilty of perjury. Upon conviction on indictment, they are liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years, a fine, or both.
A judicial proceeding includes any proceedings before a court, tribunal, or person having by law the power to hear, receive, or examine evidence on oath.
Where the statement is made on oath before a person authorised to take oaths and not in the proceedings, it is treated as if it was made in the judicial proceeding. A statement by a person lawfully sworn in Northern Ireland for judicial proceedings in any part of the United Kingdom, the dominions, or a tribunal of a foreign state, is treated as a statement in the judicial proceeding in Northern Ireland.
The question of whether a statement on which perjury is assigned was material is a question of law to be determined by the judge at the trial of the matter.
A person who, in a written statement tendered for criminal proceedings, wilfully makes a statement material in those proceedings which they know to be false or do not believe to be true, is guilty of an offence. A person who, in a written statement made in Northern Ireland and tendered in evidence in the Republic of Ireland in criminal proceedings, wilfully makes a statement which is false or which they do not believe to be true, is guilty of an offence.
A person guilty of either of the above offences is liable, upon conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, a fine, or both.
A person making a written statement tendered in proceedings before a court-martial which they know to be false or do not believe to be true, is guilty of an offence, subject to the same penalty as above.
Similarly, a person who gives testimony either orally or in writing other than on oath, when required to do so in relation to proceedings in other jurisdictions under the Evidence (Proceedings in Other Jurisdictions) Act, is guilty of an offence in the same manner as above if they know the statement to be false in a material particular or it is false in a material particular and they do not believe it to be true.
A person required or authorised by law to make a statement on oath for any purpose, and being lawfully sworn other than in a judicial proceeding who wilfully makes a statement which is material for that purpose and which they know to be false or do not believe to be true, is guilty of an offence. A person who wilfully uses any false affidavit for the purpose of any legislation regarding registration of deeds or title or the Bill of Sales Act, is guilty of an offence. Either such offence is subject, upon conviction on indictment, to a term up to seven years, a fine, or both.
A person who, for the purpose of procuring a marriage or civil partnership licence, knowingly and falsely makes a false oath or declaration or causes any false particulars to be inserted in a register or claims to be a person whose consent is required for the marriage, is guilty of an offence. A person guilty of an offence under this provision is liable, upon summary conviction, to a fine up to level 3 on the standard scale, or, upon indictment, imprisonment up to seven years, a fine, or both.
There is an equivalent offence in relation to making false statements in connection with births or deaths. It applies to false declarations, certificates, or entries in relation to a birth, stillborn birth, or death. The same penalties apply.
A person who knowingly and wilfully makes, otherwise than on oath, a statement which is false in a material particular in a statutory declaration, abstract, account, balance sheet, certificate, book, estimate, entry, inventory, notice, report, or other document which they are authorised or required to make, attest, or verify by any enactment, or in any oral declaration or oral answer which they are required to make in pursuance of an enactment, is guilty of an offence. They are liable, upon conviction, to imprisonment for a term up to two years, a fine, or both.
A person who procures or attempts to procure themselves to be registered on any register or roll kept pursuant to the legislation of persons qualified by law to practice any vocation or calling or attempts to procure a certificate of registration of any person on such a register or roll, by wilfully making or producing either verbally or in writing, any declaration, certificate, or representation which they know to be false or fraudulent, is guilty of an offence. They are subject, upon conviction on indictment, to an unlimited fine or imprisonment up to one year, or both.
Any person who aids, abets, counsels or procures, or suborns another person to commit an offence against the perjury legislation is liable to be proceeded against, indicted, and tried and punished as if they were a principal offender. A person who incites another person to commit an offence under the legislation is guilty of an offence. They are liable, upon conviction on indictment, to imprisonment up to two years, a fine, or both.
Where a judge, presiding officer, magistrate, is of the opinion that in the course of a proceeding before the court or authority, a person has been guilty of perjury, it may order the prosecution of that person where there is reasonable cause for the same. It may commit them, or admit them to bail, or take their trial at the proper court.
It may require any person to enter into a recognizance to prosecute or give evidence against a person whose prosecution is ordered. It may give the person so bound to prosecute a certificate of the making of the order for prosecution.
A person shall not be liable to be convicted of an offence under the legislation or under any other offence declared by another enactment to be perjury or subornation of perjury, solely on evidence of one witness as to the falsity of any statement alleged to be false.
On a prosecution for perjury alleged to have been committed on a trial and indictment, or for procuring or suborning the commission of the same, the fact of the former trial shall be sufficiently proved by the production of a certificate containing the substance and effect of the indictment and a trial purporting to be signed by the appropriate officer of the Crown Court without proof of the signature or other official character of the person appearing to have signed the certificate.
Forms and ceremonies used in administering oaths are immaterial if the court or person before whom the oath is taken has the power to administer the oath for the purpose of verifying the statement in question, and the oath has been administered in a form and with ceremonies which the person taking the oath has accepted without objection or declared to be binding on them.