Oaths Act, 1909

OATHS ACT 1909

CHAPTER XXXIX.

An Act to amend the Law as to Oaths. [25th November 1909.]

Be it enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

Short title.

51 & 52 Vict. c. 46.

1. This Act may be cited for all purposes as the Oaths Act, 1909; and the Oaths Act, 1888, and this Act may be cited together as the Oaths Acts, 1888 and 1909.

Manner of administration of oaths.

2.(1) Any oath may be administered and taken in the form and manner following:—

The person taking the oath shall hold the New Testament, or, in the case of a Jew, the Old Testament, in his uplifted hand, and shall say or repeat after the officer administering the oath the words “I swear by Almighty God that . . . . .”, followed by the words of the oath prescribed by law.

(2) The officer shall (unless the person about to take the oath voluntarily objects thereto, or is physically incapable of so taking the oath) administer the oath in the form and manner aforesaid without question:

Provided that, in the case of a person who is neither a Christian nor a Jew, the oath shall be administered in any manner which is now lawful.

Definition.

3. In this Act the word “officer” shall mean and include any and every person duly authorised to administer oaths.

Commencement and extent.

4.(1) This Act shall come into operation on the first day of January nineteen hundred and ten.

(2) This Act shall not apply to Scotland.