Johnson v. State

Jackson, Chief Justice.

[Joe Johnson was indicted for rape committed on a child under ten years of age, and was convicted. He moved for a new trial, on the following among other grounds:

(1.) Because the court permitted the child, on whom the crime was alleged to have been committed, to testify, over defendant’s objections, on Ihe ground that she was of *77tender years and did not understand the nature of an oath. (The preliminary examination was as follows:

By the court;

Question. “Do you know what you are about to do now? Do you know what it is to get up in the court-house and swear ? Do you swear…