Question IV: What penalties are established for false witnesses

A false witness offends God, the Judges, and the litigating party, and commits in one sin a threefold deformity, which must be expounded in confession: perjury against God, injustice against men, against whom he gives false testimony; and a lie against the Judge, by which he perverts the forensic judgment. On this account heavy penalties are established for them in the law, as Fagundez teaches, cap. 43, after D. Bonaventura in the places cited, especially in the Diaeta, tit. 3, cap. 7. The same is found in the Canon law, cap. 1, de crimine falsi, where he says so threefold a penalty is to be inflicted on the false witness.

FIRST, because he offends God by his perjury, a fast on bread and water for forty days is imposed on him, and for seven years other penance besides, as appears from C. Quicumque, quaest. 1, and the Gloss there, and D. Bonaventura reports it in the confessionali, cap. 3, particula 18.

SECOND, because he mocked the Judge and perverted the public order of law, he is marked with infamy, C. si quis convictus, 2, quaest. 5.

THIRD, because he injured his neighbor, he is punished according to the manner and measure of the injury, that is, by as much penalty as is established by law. So Farinacius, quaest. 67, part. 309, and others whom he cites. The same author, num. 9, notes that a false witness must be condemned far more heavily, both in a case of death and in a civil or criminal case, than the Defendant is to be condemned; which Ananias also teaches on cap. 1, de crim. falsi, and there Butrius num. 6; Iason on the Leg. Et si legibus, at the end of the Cod. si contra ius, vel utilitatem publicam; Gomez on the law Tauri, 87; Penna in direct. Inquisit., part. 3, quaest. 73, com. 122, fol. 675.

MOREOVER, the penalty of a false witness is that he is no longer believed in the judicial forum, even in true matters. Hence, although credit is given to other criminals, it is never given to liars. The Saintly Doctor proves this from the place recently adduced, from C. Quicumque, which is a decree of Pope Fabian, who decrees that such a one should never be without penance and never be received in testimony. So also Bartolus on the Leg. transigere, de transact., and commonly the Canonists on the cap. fraternitatis, de crimine falsi, where Innocent, Ioan. Andreas, Zabarella, and Ananias attest this.

A FOURTH penalty is deposition, if he is a cleric; some derive it from the c. Cum non ab homine, de iudiciis. This, however, is not observed, as I gather from D. Bonaventura in the confessionali, where, though recounting the other penalties, he does not append this one; and so Ananias notes at the place cited, and Fagundez num. 9, who at num. 26, with Ananias, notes that one must be punished for the crime of falsity who conceals the truth when he has sworn to speak it. It is gathered from the cap. Cum dilecti, de accusat.

By the civil law, formerly, by Leg. 12 Tabularum, false witnesses were hurled headlong from the Tarpeian rock, as Aulus Gellius testifies, Lib. 20 of his Attic Nights, cap. 1; Simanca de Cathol. Instit., titulo 64, num. 83; Tiraquellus de poenis, caus. 31, num. 29.

AFTERWARD this penalty seemed too harsh, and in its place succeeded the penalty of deportation with publication of all goods, if the man were free; but if a slave, he is afflicted with the ultimate punishment, by the common Imperial law, Leg. 1 in princip. ff. ad Legem Corneliam de falsis, joined with the §. finalis, and Leg. si divino, ff. de poenis; and Angelus Perusinus notes it in addit. circa materiam de restam. post numerum 15, Abbas in cap. 1. de crim. falsi, num. 6, Simanchus de Cathol. Instit. tit. 64 num. 89, Marianus Socinus in cap. 1. de crimine falsi, num. 109. But one who compels another to testify falsely is punished with the same penalty, as Ananias teaches loco cit., and Fagundez cap. 43. num. 3, D. Bonaventura speculo animae, cap. 2, ad finem.

SIMILARLY also a wavering and contradictory witness is punished with the penalty of the false witness, Leg. qui falso, and there the Gloss, ff. de testibus, and Leg. eas, ff. de falsis. So hold Abbas, Aretinus, and Butrius in cap. Cum in tua, de rest.; Baldus, Bossius, Clarus, Foller, and Farinacius, who cites others, quaest. 66, num. 56; and Bictus, quaest. 47, numero 21.

NOTE, however, that a witness who contradicts himself must be reconciled as far as possible. See the ways of accomplishing this in Farinacius a num. 369.

IN the Venetian state a paper cap, painted with little devils, is placed on false witnesses, and sitting in a high place of the Piazza they are mocked; soon the tip of the tongue is cut off by the executioner, and he is driven into exile.

Matters pertaining to the essence of the oath and of perjury, insofar as it is against God, are treated quite differently in the Tract. de religione, disput. de iuramento; for now we have dealt with it insofar as it is against justice.