Warwick.
In the bailiwick of Guernsey the person sworn lifts his right hand, and the
presiding judge, who administers the oath, says "Vous jurez par la foi et
le serment que vous devez a Dieu que," &c. Oaths of office, however, are
taken on the Gospels, and are read to the person swearing by the greffier,
or clerk of the court. The reason of this difference may be accounted for
by the fact that the official oaths, as they now exist, appear to have been
drawn up about the beginning of the reign of James I., and that in all
probability the form was enjoined by the superior authority of the Privy
Council.
Which of the two forms was generally used before the Reformation, I have
not been able to discover; but in an account of the laws, privileges, and
customs of the island, taken by way of inquisition in the year 1331, but
more fully completed and approved in the year 1441, it appears that the
juries of the several parishes were sworn "sur Sainctes Evangiles de Dieu
par eulx et par chacun d'eulx corporellement touche,"--"par leurs
consciences sur le peril de la dampnation de leurs ames."
I remember to have seen men from some of the Baltic ports, when told to
lift their right hands to be sworn, double down the ring finger and the
little finger, as is done by bishops in the Roman Catholic Church when
giving the benediction.
In France the person making oath lifts his right hand. The oath is
administered by the presiding judge without any reference to the Deity, but
the person who swears is required to answer "Je le jure." I observed that
in Britanny, when the person sworn was ignorant of the French language, the
answer was "Va Doue," which, I believe, means in the Breton dialect, "By
God."
In the Ecclesiastical Court of Guernsey I have seen the book presented to
the person swearing open at one of the Gospels; but in the Royal Court the
book is put into the right hand of the party making oath, shut. In either
case it is required that the book should be kissed.