Maynard v. People

Citations

• 135 Ill. 416
• 25 N.E. 740
• 1890 Ill. LEXIS 1237

Syllabus

<p>1. Perjury—authority to administer the oath—jurisdiction of the proceeding—both essential. There is no perjury in false testimony alleged to have been given under the sanction of an oath, unless such oath was administered by some one having legal authority to administer it; and the case or proceeding in which the oath was taken must be one of which the tribunal or magistrate had jurisdiction.</p> <p>2. Same—of the indictment—averment of such authority and jurisdiction. Jurisdiction being an element without which there can be no perjury, it must appear with certainty, from the indictment, that there . was jurisdiction; but this may be done either by direct averment that' there was jurisdiction, or by the statement of facts from which the court can see there was jurisdiction.</p> <p>3. Jurisdiction, and authority to administer the oath, must be expressly averred in the indictment, or, in the absence of such express averment, such facts must be set out as will make them judicially appear; and the two things thus stated are alternative ones, and the indictment will be good if it contains either, but it néed not contain both.</p> <p>4. An averment in an indictment for perjury, that the police magistrate before whom the defendant testified, “then and there had full power and Authority to administer the said oath to the said F. M. in that behalf,” by necessary implication amounts to an averment that the police magistrate had jurisdiction.</p> <p>5. It is a principle of pleading, that whatever is included in or is necessarily implied from an express allegation need not be otherwise averred. So an averment of the power and authority of a justice of the peace to administer an oath to a witness on the trial of a cause, necessarily implies that the justice had jurisdiction to try the case.</p> <p>6. An allegation in an indictment for perjury, that the proceeding in which the false testimony was given was “a certain complaint, in due form of law, against F. M., for bastardy,