State v. Anderson

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

CLIFFORD, J.

When called on to apply a long-established rule of law, courts sometimes become afflicted with a certain inertia. The resultant ennui can blind courts to the desirability of reassessing the rule’s value and underlying rationale. This appeal is centered on just such a long-established and essentially unchallenged rule. The vast majority of jurisdictions, including New Jersey, *194have faithfully held that the question of materiality in a prosecution for perjury is one to be decided by the judge rather than the jury. See Annotation, Materiality…