Bradberry v. State

Citations

• 7 Tex. Ct. App. 375

Syllabus

<p>1. Perjury.—Indictments for perjury are sufficient in substance, under the Code of this State, if the essential constituents of the offence are alleged in plain and intelligible words. They need not conform to common-law requirements or precedents.</p> <p>2. Same. — Though an indictment for perjury must show that the oath or affirmation was administered by a tribunal or officer lawfully authorized to administer it, yet it need not aver the means whereby the authority was acquired, —as, for.instance, the election, qualification, or commission of a justice of the peace. It is sufficient to aver that the official who administered the oath or affirmation was a justice of the peace, having authority to administer oaths.</p> <p>3. County Attorneys have authority, by an act of 1876, to administer oaths to complaints cognizable by justices of the peace, as well as to complaints or affidavits made as bases for informations in the County Courts.</p> <p>4. Perjury may consist not only in false and corrupt testimony relative to the main fact immediately at issue, but also in such testimony relative to material circumstances which tend to prove that issue, and irrespective of the truth or falsity of the main fact at issue.</p>