Definition and Citations:
OATH. An external pledge or assevera- lon, made in verification of statements made cr to be made, coupled with an appeal to a sucred or venerated object, in evidence of the serious and reverent state of mind of tl.e party, or with an invocation to a supreme being to witness the words of the party and to visit him with punishment if they be false. See O’Reilly v. People, 86 N. Y. 154, 40 Am. Rep. 525; Atwood v. Welton, 7 Conn. 70; Clinton v. State, 33 Ohio St. 32; Brock v. Milligan, 10 Ohio, 123; Blocker Burness, 2 Ala. 354. A religious asseveration, by which a’person renounces the mercy and imprecates the vengeance of heaven, if he do not speak the truth. Leach, 430.
