Ex officio oath

The ex officio oath developed in the first half of the 17th century (1600 to 1650), and was used as a form of coercion, persecution, and forcible <a href="/facts/Self-incrimination/zoG1Vyrt">self-incrimination</a> in the religious trials of that era. It took the form of a religious <a href="/facts/Oath/jswyhfwI">oath</a> made by the accused prior to questioning by the <a href="/facts/Star_Chamber/wX1smoRu">Star Chamber</a>, to answer truthfully all questions that might be asked. It gave rise to what became known as the cruel <a href="/facts/Trilemma/SQ82oo6z">trilemma</a> where the accused would find themselves trapped between a breach of religious oath (taken extremely seriously in that era, a <a href="/facts/Mortal_sin/2YJGzz7d">mortal sin</a>, and <a href="/facts/Perjury/n3h9F4QF">perjury</a>), <a href="/facts/Contempt_of_court/yJIBGEQN">contempt of court</a> for silence, or self-incrimination. The name derives from the questioner putting the accused on oath <a href="/facts/Ex_officio/5LIrlCsb">ex officio</a>, meaning by virtue of his office or position.
Outcry against this practice (particularly in the trials of <a href="/facts/John_Lilburne/BEoEMR3D">John Lilburne</a> ("Freeborn John") around 1630–1649) led to the establishment of the right to not incriminate oneself in <a href="/facts/Common_law/vGVcW4Kf">common law</a>. This was the direct precursor of similar <a href="/facts/Civil_rights/DBK7m6s2">rights</a> in modern law, including the <a href="/facts/Right_to_silence/HTEnrPRv">right to silence</a> and non-self-incrimination in the <a href="/facts/Fifth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution/6ET9uaLU">Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution</a>. The right itself appears as item 16 in the <a href="/facts/Levellers/1APBpHND">Levellers</a> <a href="/facts/Agreement_of_the_People/XyaWx3CU">Agreement of the Free People of England</a> (1649) and first appeared in US law in the <a href="/facts/Massachusetts_Body_of_Liberties/DNoG6nL9">Massachusetts Body of Liberties</a> and the <a href="/facts/History_of_the_Connecticut_Constitution/BncrMplj">Connecticut Code</a> of the same era. The Star Chamber itself, as a judicial body, was abolished by <a href="/facts/Parliament/n2zfmmBC">Parliament</a> as part of the <a href="/facts/Habeas_Corpus_Act_1640/P9m2msnY">Habeas Corpus Act 1640</a>.

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Ex officio oath