TO FORSWEAR

To swear to a falsehood.

This word is not the same as perjury as it does not necessarily signify a false swearing on an issue before an officer or court having authority to administer an oath. A person may be forsworn by making a false oath before an incompetent tribunal as well as before a lawful court. Hence, to say that a man is forsworn, will or will not be slander, as the circumstances show that the oath was or was not taken before a lawful authority.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.