In the West Hartlepool police court at Durham a Jew who refused to be sworn on a Bible containing the New Testament and for whom a copy of the Old Testament alone could not be found was sworn, with the irritated consent of the court, as a Scotsman. The oath of a Scotsman is good enough not to require a legally sacred book. The Jew is Jacob Barnett, of Church Street, who was bringing a charge of common assault and wilful damage against one Edmund W. Anderson, a butcher of the same street.
Attaches of the court asserted that not in at least twenty years had a principal or witness in a case refused to swear on the Bible for any reason. In a mild explanation of his attitude, Mr. Barnett said to the magistrate: “I am very sorry, but I am a Jew. I keep to my religion and I have nothing against any other religion. Everybody has a right to act according to his religion, and why shouldn’t I take the oath according to my religion?”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
