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Crimes Act 1961

Crimes affecting the administration of law and justice - Misleading justice

109: Punishment of perjury

You could also call this:

“Lying in court can get you into big trouble and might even land you in jail for a long time.”

If you commit perjury, you can be sent to prison for up to 7 years. Perjury means lying when you’re supposed to tell the truth in court or other official situations.

Sometimes, the punishment for perjury can be even longer. If you lie to try to get someone else convicted of a crime that has a punishment of 3 years in prison or more, you could be sent to prison for up to 14 years.

These rules are part of New Zealand’s laws to make sure people tell the truth when it’s important, like in court. The law wants to stop people from lying because it can cause serious problems in the justice system.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM328796.

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Part 6 Crimes affecting the administration of law and justice
Misleading justice

109Punishment of perjury

  1. Except as provided in subsection (2), every one is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 7 years who commits perjury.

  2. If perjury is committed in order to procure the conviction of a person for any offence for which the maximum punishment is not less than 3 years' imprisonment, the punishment may be imprisonment for a term not exceeding 14 years.

Compare
  • 1908 No 32 s 131
Notes
  • Section 109(2): amended, on , by section 3(3) of the Abolition of the Death Penalty Act 1989 (1989 No 119).