And
this is done only when the question arises as to the principles by
which a court of justice in the civil state is to be guided, in
order to proceed with all possible safety in delivering judgement on
the rights of individuals.
40. IV. Acquisition of Security by the Taking of an Oath.
(Cautio Juratoria).
Only one ground can be assigned on which it could be held that men
are bound in the juridical relation to believe and to confess that
there are gods, or that there is a God. It is that they may be able to
swear an oath; and that thus by the fear of an all-seeing Supreme
Power, whose revenge they must solemnly invoke upon themselves in case
their utterance should be false, they may be constrained to be
truthful in statement and faithful in promising. It is not morality
but merely blind superstition that is reckoned upon in this process;
for it is evident it implies that no certainty is to be expected
from a mere solemn declaration in matters of right before a court,
although the duty of truthfulness must have always appeared
self-evident to all, in a matter which concerns the holiest that can
be among men- namely, the right of man. Hence recourse has been had to
a motive founded on mere myths and fables as imaginary guarantees.
Thus among the Rejangs, a heathen people in Sumatra, it is the custom-
according to the testimony of Marsden- to swear by the bones of
their dead relatives, although they have no belief in a life after
death.
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