How to swear an oath for an affidavit

Making an oath to swear an affidavit is easy! Oaths and affidavits have been used to create formal statements of evidence for hundreds of years. The essential legal principles about oaths are well established and are explained in this article. However to ensure the validity of an affidavit, it is necessary to understand these principles and to carefully apply them. A form of words that can be used to use for swearing oaths is provided at the end of this article.

What does swearing an oath mean?

An oath is a solemn appeal to one or more gods that the person taking the oath will tell the truth. Thus an oath is a promise to tell the truth which is made by a religious person to the highest authority that their religion recognises.

Who can swear an oath?

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An oath can be sworn by a person of any religion provided their religion involves a belief in a higher being (ie a god or more than one god). A religious person whose religion does not include a belief in a god or gods (for example a Buddhist) may be able to swear an oath, depending on the legal system for which the affidavit is to be sworn.

A person who is not religious cannot swear an oath. A non religious person must make an affirmation instead of an oath. An affirmation is a non-religious promise which is otherwise equivalent to an oath; therefore an affirmation is the most solemn, legally-recognised promise a non-religious person can make. (Some legal systems also allow a non-religious person to make a certification instead of a sworn affidavit.)

What form should an oath be sworn in?

No particular form of words or ceremony is necessary to make an oath. Rather, what is essential is that the person making the oath believes that the oath will bind their conscience to tell the truth.

While there is no “official” or “correct” wording for an oath, there are conventional forms for an oath that have traditionally been used by the common law and are commonly used today. A religious person will ordinarily believe that an oath administered in that traditional or conventional form will be binding on their conscience as the law requires.

A Christian oath for an affidavit is usually made by the person taking the oath stating the following words to the person administering the oath: “I [name of person making the affidavit] swear by Almighty God that this is my name and that the contents of this my affidavit are true and correct.”

The oath may also be made in a question and answer form. To swear an oath this way the person administering the oath will ask the following question:

“Do you swear by Almighty God that [name of person making affidavit] is your name and that the contents of this your affidavit are true and correct?”

The person making the affidavit must then reply “yes” or “I so swear.”

Traditionally the person taking the oath would place their hand on a bible. However this is not a legal requirement and the oath will be effective without it provided the person taking the oath believes it to be binding on their conscience.

Another custom (particularly in some American jurisdictions) is for both the person taking the oath and the person administering it to raise their right hand. Again, this is not a legal requirement.

Some Christians taking the oath may prefer to do so in the Scot’s form.

Oaths for non-Christian religions

A Jewish oath is made by using the same words as the Christian oath. Again, no religious book is required. If a religious book is used, it will usually be the Old Testament although some Jewish people prefer to take the oath on the Penta// (the first five books of the Old Testament). Other Jewish people believe that it is wrong to swear on any religious book. Whether a religious book is used simply comes down to what the person making the affidavit believes will bind their conscience to tell the truth.

For oaths for other religions, a suggested form of oath is as follows:

“Do you swear by [name of God or Gods in which the religion believes] that [name of person making affidavit] is your name and that the contents of this your affidavit are true and correct?”

Once again, the use of a religious book is not legally required provided the person making the oath believes it to be binding on their conscience.