30 Mo. 364 | Mo. | 1860
delivered the opinion of the court.
Perjury by our laws is made á felony, though not one at common law. The indictment in this case does not charge that the act of false swearing was done feloniously. It is well settled that in all indictments for a felony the act must be charged to have been done feloniously. The omission of that word in this indictment renders the judgment fatally defective.
The court, and not the jury, must determine whether the fact sworn to was material in the judicial proceeding in which the perjury is alleged to have been committed. The instruction therefore which submitted this question to the jury was erroneous.
In trials for perjury it is not proper to instruct the jury that the law presumes the declarations of a party against
Judgment reversed.