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Title

Ch18 Parliamentary committees / CONDUCT OF INQUIRIES / Swearing of witnesses

Database

House Practice

Date

01-05-2005

Source

House of Reps

Parl No.

41

Chapter

Parliamentary committees

Chapter No.

Chapter 18

Page

668

Section No.

 

System Id

procedural/practcer/chapter18.68.doc


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Ch18 Parliamentary committees / CONDUCT OF INQUIRIES / Swearing of witnesses



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House of Representatives                                Ch 18                                                 p 668

 

Parliamentary committees / CONDUCT OF INQUIRIES

 

Swearing of witnesses

There are no provisions in the standing orders for the swearing of witnesses. Committees of the House which have the power to call for persons, documents and records have the power to administer an oath to witnesses. This power is derived from the House of Commons by virtue of section 49 of the Constitution and on the basis that the United Kingdom Parliamentary Witnesses Act 1871 empowered the House of Commons and its committees to administer oaths to witnesses and attaches to false evidence the penalties of perjury. 1 There has been some doubt cast on whether joint committees 2 have this power 3 but some, such as the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, have sworn witnesses. According to May , a witness who refuses to be sworn or to take some corresponding obligation to speak the truth may be dealt with by the House for contempt. 4

The practice of swearing witnesses has become less common in recent years. Committees may exercise their discretion as to whether they require a witness to take an oath. In some situations it may be regarded by a committee as unnecessary in view of the House’s power to punish a witness who gives false evidence even when not under oath. If witnesses are not sworn, the committee should formally warn that the deliberate misleading of the committee may be regarded as a contempt of the House.

A reluctant witness, especially one who has been summonsed, should probably be sworn to impress upon him or her the importance and solemnity of the occasion and to ensure that an obligation to tell the whole truth is understood.

A witness who does not wish to take an oath is given the opportunity to make a solemn affirmation. The oath or affirmation is administered to the witness by the committee secretary. The oath and affirmation used by committees of the House take the following form:

Oath

Secretary: Please take the Bible in your right hand. Do you swear that the evidence you shall give on this examination shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So help you God.

Witness: I do. So help me God.

Affirmation

Secretary: Do you solemnly and sincerely affirm and declare that the evidence you shall give on this examination shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Witness: I do.

An oath need not necessarily be made on the authorised version of the Bible. Every witness taking an oath should take it in a manner which affects his or her conscience regardless of whether a holy book is used or not. 5



Opinion of Solicitor-General, dated 8 August 1941. This view was supported by the Solicitor-General in 1958 in an opinion given to the Senate Select Committee on Payments to Maritime Unions. Greenwood and Ellicott believed there was ‘room for doubt’ as to whether this was the correct view as the precise limits of section 49 had not been determined, PP 168 (1972) 12.



That is, other than statutory committees given the power by legislation, e.g. Public Works Committee Act 1969 , s. 20.



Opinion of Solicitor-General, dated 8 August 1941.



May , 23rd edn, p. 130.



Advice of Attorney-General’s Department, dated 16 February 1962, on the swearing in of Members (s ee Ch. on ‘Members’).