The New International Encyclopædia/Declaration (criminal law)

​DECLARATION (OF., Lat. declaratio, from declarare, to make clear, from declarus, clear). In the criminal law of Scotland, the statement made by the prisoner before the examining magistrates. It is the duty of the magistrate to take this declaration immediately on the prisoner being brought before him. The magistrate must previously inform him that it is entirely at his own option to declare or not, but that if he chooses to do so, the declaration may be used in evidence against him on his trial. The declaration ought to contain the name, age, and designation of the prisoner, the parish and county in which the crime is said to have been committed, and all similar particulars. When completed it must be read over to the prisoner, who, if he is able to write, signs every page of it along with the magistrate. This practice of the Scotch committing magistrates is identical with that which obtains in England and America, the term ‘statement’ being here employed for the prisoner’s declaration. See Arraignment; Confession; and consult the statutes of the various States regulating the examination of persons under arrest for crime.

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