Is it perjury to break a promise made under oath? Is it possible for a statement to retroactively become perjurious based on future actions? Suppose: I'm sworn in under oath (testifying in court, before congress, etc.) I make a specific promise, e.g.: &quot;I will go there at the end of the month&quot; &quot;I will direct my company to stop this practice immediately&quot; &quot;I will pay $1,000 within two weeks&quot; When the time comes, I do not do it. Is that perjury? How about with one or both of these additional factors (assume sufficient evidence): I am fully capable of fulfilling my pledge but choose not to. I did not intend to fulfill my pledge at the time I made it.
maryland I think not In Maryland (a typical state on such issues) the relevant law is Section 9-101 - Perjury, which reads in pertinent part: a) Prohibited.- A person may not willfully and falsely make an oath or affirmation as to a material fact: (1) if the false swearing is perjury at common law; (2) in an affidavit required by any state, federal, or local law; (3) in an affidavit made to induce a court or officer to pass an account or claim; (4) in an affidavit required by any state, federal, or local government or governmental official with legal authority to require the issuance of an affidavit; or (5) in an affidavit or affirmation made under the Maryland Rules. A statement of intended future conduct is probably not a &quot;fact&quot; as required by this section. Classic perjury, that is making a false statement during testimony in an actual court session is covered by subsection (a)(1), which makes it relevant what was considered perjury at common law. In Volume 2 of A Treatise on the Criminal Law of the United States By Francis Wharton (Kay and brother, 1874) section 2226 says: At Common law perjury cannot be committed in an official oath, as far as such oath touches future conduct. On page 321 of The Law and Higher Education: a Casebook by John Seiler Brubacher (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1971) appears the phrase: ... a promise of future conduct, the breach of which would not support a conviction for perjury This was in reference to the 1931 US law mandating a loyalty oath, and why such a law violates due process. Also relevant is the article &quot;When Is a False Statement Perjury?&quot; by the MoloLamken law firm. This discusses the federal perjury lws: 18 U.S.C. §1621 and 18 U.S.C. §1623. There is no mention of false sttements about future conduct.
The fact that it is possible to engage in fraud, doesn't mean that it is impossible to prove something. Usually, in a civil action, testimony that a business record says something and that it was not falsified is sufficient to meet a preponderance of the evidence standard (i.e. to establish to the satisfaction of a judge or jury that it is more likely that something is true than it is that it isn't true). It is easy to forge checks too (and hard to prove that a signature is fake), but that doesn't mean that you can't prove payment by check or that negotiable instruments are useless.
It is like an affidavit of sort, sworn out without the jurat and not before a notary. The swearing out of a complaint or rebutting evidence in all Federal civil matters (some states allow for the same) must contain an affidavit or an "unsworn declaration" that swears out the facts to be true and accurate, even though not notarized, and is based on fact and not supposition. It is subject to the same penalties of perjury if one lies as if you swear on a bible and testify in court or on a "sworn" affidavit. Affidavits need not be sworn before God, or on a bible. You have a right to just "affirm" that you will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth....and not "so help me God". Many courts don't use a bible at all anymore. 28 U.S.C. 1746 relates to these "Unsworn Declarations Under Penalty Of Perjury" It is not b/c you don't believe in God that you'd use this...you always have the option of swearing out even a declared affidavit or testifying without swearing on a bible if you're an atheist. They just leave out the "before God" part. Affidavits are the norm, however, in Federal Courts that have an expedited docket this is typically used when it could take a while to get a notary and the evidence is due. (In some states lawyers are automatically notaries but in others they aren't). The ability to swear out a complaint or contest a deposition without having to wait on a notary can be the difference between making your deadline or not. It's commonly used when records custodians are called to certify the authenticity of documents produced pursuant to subpoena or other formal request. Under F.R.Civ.P 56 declarations usually are not within the type of evidentiary categories that can be used at the summary judgment phase. If it's a small misstatement you would probably be faced with a fine. If it's a total lie, outright, you'd be looking at jail time (say a records custodian removed evidence and swore out it was the complete business record in a fraud case). 18 U.S. Code § 1621 discusses perjury generally (in federal actions).
Would a U.S court honor his request, based on his prior commitment? You are not specifying the purpose of the court hearing, or whether Adam is pro se litigant (which sounds unlikely if this plaintiff is a movie star). If plaintiff Adam is represented by an attorney, Adam's presence is unnecessary in most or all court hearings. In fact, typically neither parties nor their lawyers have to show up in court, whence their absence does not constitute contempt of court. Absence merely implies that they miss the opportunity to [orally] argue their position before the court, and thus would depend on whether the judge bothers to actually read their brief. If you mean a hearing in which Adam needs to be present, his request to reschedule the hearing is most likely to be granted. His contract is strong evidence that his request is not a vexatious attempt to delay proceedings. Since the hearing would be in month 4, the particularity that his contract goes up to month 4 implies that rescheduling would not significantly delay proceedings. Regarding your comment, rescheduling can (and does) happen multiple times even in criminal cases. This post includes an excerpt of the Register of Actions of criminal case 16-870-FH in Michigan state court (Washtenaw county), highlighting several instances of rescheduling as requested by the defense counsel and despite prosecutor's objection. I believe the case got rescheduled a few more times beyond what the snapshots reflect.
No Let's consider a similar scenario. If you made a beverage which poisoned a number of people, would you be absolved of liability because you gave it away for free? Of course not. As there is no contract between you, they would have to bring an action against you in the tort of negligence or negligent misstatement OR under consumer protection law. To succeed at tort they would need to prove that you owed them a duty of care; from Donoghue v Stevenson "You must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonable foresee would be likely to injure ... persons who are so closely and directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably have them in contemplation ...". Most cases will founder on your inability to foresee the use to which your software may be put. Consumer law is jurisdiction specific but they generally contain warranties that what you provide (gratis or otherwise) is fit for purpose, merchantable and that you do not make false and misleading statements. There is a chance that a case brought under this sort of law could succeed as you have not limited the purpose, specifically declared that it is not of merchantable quality and have (presumable) said what it does so that, if it doesn't do what you said, you have been misleading and deceptive.
A confession is (usually) taken after the court finishes its pre-trialing stage. There is a weightage and importance of such confession determined before the calculation of the gravity score of such crime. If the attorney somehow (fakely) proves Fred as the killer, Mark is declared innocent, and later on its discovered that Fred is innocent; the court can take some action against Fred. It would be first checked whether was Fred in a logical state of mind or not. If being manipulated by Mark, it would not be their fault of Fred. The court will also most likely see the age of the confessor to determine the importance of this. Here is a source from the National Registry of Exonerations which states the age of crime, and the percentage of groups with false crime declarations: One reason is that minors can be easily psychologically manipulated, and so by chance Fred if under 18 would not be considered to give any worth of confession unless proven to go against him. In some cases, the individual who made the false confession may be charged with perjury or obstruction of justice, particularly if their false confession led to an innocent person being convicted or if their false testimony impeded an ongoing investigation when the individual is not a minor. This is covered by perjury, a crime of expressing fake statements. In United States Code, Chapter 79 of Section 1632, it states: (1) having taken an oath before a competent tribunal, officer, or person, in any case in which a law of the United States authorizes an oath to be administered, that he will testify, declare, depose, or certify truly, or that any written testimony, declaration, deposition, or certificate by him subscribed, is true, willfully and contrary to such oath states or subscribes any material matter which he does not believe to be true; or in any declaration, certificate, verification, or statement under penalty of perjury as permitted under section 1746 of title 28, United States Code, willfully subscribes as true any material matter which he does not believe to be true; is guilty of perjury and shall, except as otherwise expressly provided by law, be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. This section is applicable whether the statement or subscription is made within or without the United States. The following law only applies to a sensible adult, who has intentionally, without a psychological circumstance, made a false statement to defend someone. It is hard later, for the prosecutor to prove the claimant innocent if the confession has solid ground and worth. Note that though false confession can come under perjury crime, an exemption exists for minors or those psychologically unwell or influenced. It reminds us of Miranda v Arizona, where Miranda, an inmate in prison cased over by Phoenix Police (Credits:@TannerSwett) who would torture an innocent inmate to confess a crime. In collective terms, it was called Miranda Warnings, where the inmate was warned, using torture to confess fakely. It would be clear from torture. In the 1936 case Brown v. Mississippi, which was the first time the Supreme Court excluded a confession from a state court prosecution, this was the issue. For days, three suspects had been tortured. The deputy in charge testified when asked how hard one of the defendants had been whipped: Not too much for a Black person; not nearly as much as I would have done if I had been in charge. An image of courtesy, The Crisis Magazine 1935: The Supreme Court passed American reforms where Miranda was passed, and torturing was banned with evidence for both interrogation and confession. At the time Miranda was written, more &quot;modern&quot; methods of questioning were being used: rather than beating, isolation, deception, and exhaustion. It seems unlikely that an innocent suspect would confess to a serious crime if they were not subjected to torture or other forms of violence or death threats. Confessions are extremely potent forms of proof of guilt for precisely this reason. To sum up, we conclude: If Fred was a stable adult, he is punished under the perjury crime If Fred is a minor or not stable psychologically, he is dismissed with no legal action taken against him
No (in almost all U.S. jurisdictions). Truth or falsity is evaluated when a statement is originally made and doesn't have to remain true forever. Also, generally the law treats an ad like that as an invitation for you to make any offer to them, not a binding offer to form a contract that is held open indefinitely. So you can't force them into a contract simply by accepting their offer. The default rule is that an ad is an invitation to make an offer rather than an offer that can be accepted. And, even if it really is an offer, when it does not state any termination date, the default rule is that it can be withdrawn at any time.
could they make a realistic claim that I had voluntarily terminated my contract before the year was over? The employer's act would forfeit its entitlement to reimbursement of bonus. The clause clearly indicates that the triggering event is termination, not the anticipatory notification thereof. Furthermore, the employer's act would be a breach of the [contract law] covenant of good faith and fair dealing. That would be in stark contrast with your compliance with, and/or kindness in, giving a two-week notice. The employer's termination of your employment seems improper in equity insofar as it was aware of your notice and thus took advantage thereof.