People v. Kobrin

Opinion

ARABIAN, J.

“For if it be not material, then though it be false, yet it is no perjury, because it concemeth not the point in suit . . . ,’’1

Since early common law, materiality has been considered an “essential element” of the crime of perjury. (Perkins on Criminal Law (2d ed. 1969) p. 462; Note (1938) 11 So.Cal.L.Rev. 309, fn. 1; see People v. Pierce (1967) 66 Cal.2d 53, 61 [56 Cal.Rptr. 817, 423 P.2d 969].) Yet it has until recently remained the general rule that “[t]he question of the materiality of evidence, no matter when or how it may arise, is always one of law for the court, and…