Opinion
July Term, 1811.
From Wilkes.
On the trial of an indictment for perjury, charged to have been committed in an oath taken before a company court-martial, it is not necessary to produce the commission of the captain; parol proof of his acting as such is sufficient.
THE defendant was indicted for perjury, charged to have been committed in an oath taken before a company court-martial, for the purpose of getting a fine remitted. On the trial a question arose, Whether the commission of the senior officer of the court ought not to be produced, to prove his grade as an officer and that the court was legally constituted. The presiding judge thought that it was not necessary to produce the commission, and received parol proof of the grade of the officers and of the constitution of the court. The question was sent to this Court.
It was not necessary to produce the commission of the captain; parol proof of his acting as such was sufficient.
The solicitor for the State relied upon 4 Hawk. P. C., 432, title Evidence, and 2 McNally, 485 to 488 and the authorities there cited.
(70)