Pierce Butler

“ It is whether, as against the petitioner, his testimony at the trial is enough to sustain a finding that his oath before the referee was false. Clearly the case is not as strong for the prosecution as where a witness, presumed to be honest and by the government vouched for as worthy of belief, is called to testify to the falsity of the oath of defendant set forth as perjury in the indictment. Here the sole reliance of the government is the unsupported testimony of one for whose character it cannot vouch-a dishonest man guilty of perjury on one occasion or the other. ”

“ The petitioner contends that the making of a false oath in bankruptcy is not perjury, and that without perjury there cannot be subornation of perjury. Section 125 of the Criminal Code (Comp. St. § 10295) provides that whoever, having taken an oath before a competent officer, in any case in which a law of the United States authorizes an oath to be administered, that he will testify truly, shall state any material matter which he does not believe to be true, is guilty of perjury, and shall be fined not more than $2,000 and imprisoned for not more than five years. ”