Perjury

Perjury is created by section 1 of the Perjury Act 1911, which provides that if any person lawfully sworn as a witness or as an interpreter in a judicial proceeding wilfully makes a statement material in that proceeding, which he knows to be false or does not believe to be true, he shall be guilty of perjury. 'Judicial proceeding' is defined broadly under the Act to include a proceeding before any court, tribunal, or person having by law power to hear, receive, and examine evidence on oath, so the offence is not confined to statements made in open court.

The Act itself sets the maximum penalty on conviction on indictment at a term not exceeding seven years — historically expressed as penal servitude, later replaced by ordinary imprisonment, so the offence today carries a maximum of seven years' imprisonment. Decisions about prosecuting suspected perjury still engage the 1911 Act: CPS guidance on judicial comments notes that section 9 of the Perjury Act 1911, which had empowered judges to order perjury prosecutions themselves, was repealed by section 28 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985, so whether to prosecute is now a matter for the CPS, even where a judge or magistrate who believes evidence was perjured recommends that the police investigate.