Editing Perjury (section)

=====History=====
In Anglo-Saxon legal procedure, the offence of perjury could only be committed by both jurors and by [[compurgator]]s.<ref name="Turner421">Turner, J. W. C. ''Kenny Outlines on Criminal Law'' (London: Cambridge University Press, 1964) (18th edition), p.421.</ref> With time witnesses began to appear in court they were not so treated despite the fact that their functions were akin to that of modern witnesses. This was due to the fact that their role were not yet differentiated from those of the juror and so evidence or perjury by witnesses was not made a crime. Even in the 14th century, when witnesses started appearing before the jury to testify, perjury by them was not made a punishable offence. The maxim then was that every witness's evidence on oath was true.<ref name="Turner421"/> Perjury by witnesses began to be punished before the end of the 15th century by the [[Star Chamber]].

The immunity enjoyed by witnesses began also to be whittled down or interfered with by the Parliament in England in 1540 with subornation of perjury<ref name="Turner421"/> and, in 1562, with perjury proper. The punishment for the offence then was in the nature of monetary penalty, recoverable in a civil action and not by penal sanction. In 1613, the Star Chamber declared perjury by a witness to be a punishable offence at common law.

Prior to the 1911 Act, perjury was governed by section 3 of the [[Maintenance and Embracery Act 1540]] 5 Eliz 1 c. 9 ({{lang|enm|italic=no|An Act for the Punyshement of suche persones as shall procure or comit any wyllful Perjurye}}; repealed 1967) and the [[Perjury Act 1728]].