Quote:
Originally Posted by rlauzon
"Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding"
Note the term "willful". If I assert an untruth, but believe it to be true, I am not willfully doing it.
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Regardless of that, "under penalty of perjury" means that you will be guilty of perjury if what you claim is false, I believe that phrase pretty much overrides whatever usual definition of "perjury" there is. So, if you are going to make a claim "under penalty of perjury", you better check that it is true (or that nobody will be able to prove it is not), just believing it is not enough.