PERJURY ORDINANCE

PERJURY ORDINANCE

CHAPTER 214.

PERJURY.

To consolidate and simplify the law relating to perjury and
kindred offences.

[29th September, 1922.]

1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Perjury Ordinance.

2. In this Ordinance, 'oath' 'and 'affidavit' include, in the case of
persons allowed or required by law to affirm instead of swearing,
'affirmation' ;, and 'swear' in the like case includes 'affirm'

3. (1) If any person lawfully sworn as a witness or as an interpreter,
either generally or in a particular judicial proceeding, wilfully makes a
statement in any judicial proceeding which is material in that
proceeding and which he knows to be false or does not believe to be
true, he shall be guilty of perjury and shall on conviction thereof on
indictment be liable to imprisonment for seven years and to a fine.

(2) The expression 'judicial proceeding' includes a proceeding
before any court, tribunal or person having by law power to hear,
receive and examine evidence on oath.

(3) Where a statement made for the purposes of a judicial
proceeding is not made before the tribunal itself but is made on oath
before a person authorized by law to administer an oath to the person
who makes the statement and to record or authenticate the statement, it
shall, for the purposes of this section, be treated as having been made
in a judicial proceeding.

(4) A statement made by a person lawfully sworn in Hong Kong
for the purposes of a judicial proceeding

(a) in another part of His Majesty's dominions, or

(b)in a British tribunal lawfully constituted in any place by sea
or land outside His Majesty's dominions, or

(c) in a tribunal of any foreign state, shall for the purposes of this
section, be treated as a statement made in a judicial proceeding in Hong
Kong.





(5) The question whether a statement on which perjury is assigned
was material is a question of law to be determined by the court of trial.

4. If any person being required o authorized by, law to make an
statement on oath for any purpose and being
any being
lawfully sworn (otherwise than in a judicial proceeding) wilfully makes a
statement which is material for that purpose and which he knows to be
false or does not believe to be true, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor
and on conviction thereof on indictment shall be liable to imprisonment
for seven years and to a fine.

5. Any person who-

(a)for the purpose of procuring a marriage, or a certificate or
licence for marriage, knowingly and wilfully makes a false
oath or makes or signs a false declaration, notice or
certificate required under any enactment for the time being in
force relating to marriage; or

(b)knowingly and wilfully makes, or knowingly and wilfully
causes to be made, for the purpose of being inserted in any
register of marriage, a false statement as to any particular
required by law to be known and registered relating to any
marriage.; or

(c)forbids the issue of any certificate or licence for marriage by
falsely representing himself to be a person whose consent to
the marriage is required by law knowing such representation
to be false,

shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction thereof on
indictment shall be liable to imprisonment for seven years and to a fine.

6. Any person who-

(a)wilfully makes any false answer to any question put to him by
any registrar of births or deaths relating to the particulars
required to be registered concerning any birth or death, or
wilfully gives to any such registrar any false information
concerning any birth or death or the cause of any death
or

(b)wilfully makes any false certificate or declaration under or for
the purposes of any enactment relating





to the registration of births or deaths, or knowing any such
certificate or declaration to be false, uses the same as true or
gives or sends the same as true to any person; or

(c)wilfully makes, gives or uses any false statement or
declaration as to a child born alive as having been still-born,
or as to the body of a deceased person or a still-born child in
any coffin, or falsely pretends that any child born alive was
still-born; or

(d)makes any false statement with intent to have the same
inserted in any register of births or deaths,

shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be liable-

(i) on conviction thereof on indictment, to imprisonment
for seven years and to a fine, and

(ii) on summary conviction thereof, to a fine of two
hundred and fifty dollars.

(2) A prosecution on indictment for an offence against this section
shall not be commenced more than three years after the commission of
the offence.

7. Any person who knowingly and wilfully makes (otherwise than
on oath) a statement false in a material particular, such statement being
made-

(a) in a statutory declaration ; or

(b)in an abstract, account, balance sheet, book, certificate,
declaration, entry, estimate, inventory, notice, report, return
or other document which he is authorized or required to make,
attest or verify, by any enactment for the time being in force;
or

(c) in an oral declaration or oral answer which. he is required to
make by, under or in pursuance of any enactment for the time
being in force,

shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be liable on conviction
thereof on indictment to imprisonment for two years and to a fine.

8. Any person who-

(a)procures or attempts to procure himself to be registered on
any register or. roll kept under or in pursuance of any
enactment for the time being in force of persons qualified by
law to practise any vocation or calling; or





(b)procures or attempts to procure a certificate of the
resignation of any person on any such register or roll as
aforesaid,

by wilfully making or producing or causing to be made or produced
either verbally or in writing any declaration, certificate or representation
which he knows to be false or fraudulent, shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor and shall be liable on conviction thereof on indictment to
imprisonment for twelve months and to a fine.

9. (1) Any person who aids, abets, counsels, procure, : procures

or suborns another person to commit 'an offence against this
Ordinance shall be liable to be proceeded against, indicted,
tried and punished as if he were a principal offender.

(2) A Any person who incites or attempts to procure or suborn
another person to commit an offence against this Ordinance shall be
guilty of a misdemeanor.

10. Where two or more contradictory statements of fact or alleged
fact, material to the issue or 'matter in question, have been wilfully made
on oath by one and the same witness in any judicial proceeding or
proceedings, whether before the same court or tribunal or person or
not, and whether the respective truth or falsehood of the said
statements can be ascertained or not, an indictment may be preferred
against him charging him with having wilfully made the. said
contradictory statements, and on conviction thereof, either in whole or
in part, such witness shall be liable to imprisonment for seven years and
to a fine.

11. Any person who wilfully uses for any purpose any affidavit
which he knows to be false or does not believe to be true, wherever
such affidavit may have been sworn, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor
and on conviction thereof on indictment shall be liable to imprisonment
for seven years and to a fine.

12. (1) Where any judge or magistrate is of opinion that any person
has in the course of a proceeding before him been guilty of perjury, he
may order the prosecution of that person for such perjury in case there
appears to be reasonable cause for such prosecution, and may commit
him, or admit him to bail, to take his trial at the proper





court, and may require any person to enter into a recognizance to
prosecute or give evidence against the person whose prosecution is so
ordered, and may give the person so bound to prosecute a certificate of
the making of the order for the prosecution, for which certificate no
charge shall be made.

(2) An order made or a certificate given under this section shall not
be given in evidence for the purpose or in the course of any trial of a
prosecution resulting therefrom from

13. (1) In an indictment-

(a) for making any false statement or false representation
punishable under this Ordinance; or

(b) for unlawfully, wilfully, falsely, fraudulently, deceitfully,
maliciously, or corruptly taking, making, signing or
subscribing any oath, affirmation, solemn declaration,
statutory declaration, affidavit, deposition, notice, certificate
or other writing; or

(c) for wilfully making contradictory statements on oath in a
judicial proceeding or proceedings; or

(d) for wilfully using a false affidavit, it is sufficient to set forth the
substance of the offence charged and before which court or person (if
any) the offence was committed, without setting forth the proceedings
or any part of the proceedings in the course of which the offence was
committed, and without setting forth the authority of any court or
person before whom the offence was committed.

(2) In an indictment for aiding, abetting, counselling, procuring or
suborning any other person to commit any offence hereinbefore in this
section mentioned, or for conspiring with any other person, or for
inciting or attempting to procure or suborn any other person, to commit
any such offence, it is sufficient--

(a)where such offence has been committed, to allege that
offence and then to allege that the defendant procured the
commission of that offence; and

(b) where such offence has not been committed, to set forth the
substance of the offence charged against





the defendant without setting forth an), matter or thing which
it is unnecessary to aver in the case of an indictment for a
false statement or false representation punishable under this
Ordinance.

14. A person shall not be liable to be convicted of any offence
against this Ordinance, or of any offence declared by any other
enactment to be perjury or subornation of perjury or to be, punishable
as perjury or subornation of perjury, solely upon the evidence of one
witness as to the falsity of any statement alleged to be false.

15. On a prosecution-

(a)for perjury alleged to have been committed on the trial of an
indictment for felony ol. misdemeanor; or

(b)for procuring or suborning the commission of perjury on any
such trial,

the fact of the former trial shall be sufficiently proved by the production
of a certificate containing the substance and effect (omitting the formal
parts) of the indictment and trial, purporting to be signed by the
Registrar or other person having the custody of the records of the
court where the indictment was tried, or by the deputy of that Registrar
or other person, without proof of the signature or official character of
the Registrar or person appearing to have signed the certificate.

16. For the purposes of this Ordinance, the forms and ceremonies
used in administering an oath are immaterial, if the court or person
before whom the oath is taken has power to administer an oath for the
purpose of -verifying the statement in question and if the oath has
been administratered in a form and with ceremonies which the person
taking the oath has accepted without objection, or has declared to be
binding on him.

17. (1) Where the making of a false statement is not only an
offence under this Ordinance but also by virtue of some other
enactment is a corrupt practice or subjects the offender to any
forfeiture or disqualification or to any penalty other than imprisonment
or fine, the liability of the





offender under this Ordinance shall be in addition to and
not in substitution for his liability under such other enact-
ment.

(2) Where the making of a false statement is made
punishable by any other enactment, whether passed before
or after the commencement of this Ordinance, proceedings
may be taken either under such other enactment or under
this Ordinance.
Originally 21 of 1922. Fraser 21 of 1922. Short title. Interpretation. 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 15 (2). Perjury. 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 1. [s. 3 cont.] False statements on oath made otherwise than in a judicial proceeding. 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 2. False statements, etc., with reference to marriage. 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 3. False statements, etc., as to births or deaths. 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 4. False statutory declarations and other false statements without oath. 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 5. False declarations, etc., to obtain registration, etc., for carrying on a vocation. 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 6. [s. 8 cont.] Aiders, abettors, suborner, etc. 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 7. Contradictory statements on oath. Using false affidavits. Power to direct a prosecution for perjury. 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 9. Form of indictment. 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 12. [s. 13 cont.] Corroboration. 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 13. Proof of certain proceedings on which perjury is assigned. 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 14. Form of oath. 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 15. Savings 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 16

Originally 21 of 1922. Fraser 21 of 1922. Short title. Interpretation. 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 15 (2). Perjury. 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 1. [s. 3 cont.] False statements on oath made otherwise than in a judicial proceeding. 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 2. False statements, etc., with reference to marriage. 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 3. False statements, etc., as to births or deaths. 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 4. False statutory declarations and other false statements without oath. 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 5. False declarations, etc., to obtain registration, etc., for carrying on a vocation. 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 6. [s. 8 cont.] Aiders, abettors, suborner, etc. 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 7. Contradictory statements on oath. Using false affidavits. Power to direct a prosecution for perjury. 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 9. Form of indictment. 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 12. [s. 13 cont.] Corroboration. 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 13. Proof of certain proceedings on which perjury is assigned. 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 14. Form of oath. 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 15. Savings 1 & 2 Geo. 5, c. 6, s. 16

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