Falsehood

Any untrue assertion or proposition. A wilful act or declaration contrary to the truth.

See Putnam v. Osgood, 51 N. H. 207.

It has been said that the use of the term falsehood does not always and necessarily imply a lie or wilful untruth, but is generally used in the second sense here given. It is committed either by the wilful act of the party, or by dissimulation, or by words. It is wilful, for example, when the owner of a thing sells it twice, by different contracts to different individuals, unknown to them; for in this the seller must wilfully declare the thing is his own when he knows that it is not so. It is committed by dissimulation when a creditor, having an understanding with his former debtor, sells the land of the latter, although he has been paid the debt which was due to him. Falsehood by word is committed when a witness swears to what he knows not to be true. Crabbe thus distinguishes between falsehood and untruth: "The latter is an untrue saying, and may be unintentional, in which case it reflects no disgrace on the agent. A falsehood and a lie are intentional false sayings, differing only in degree of the guilt of the offender; falsehood being not always for the express purpose of deceiving, but a lie always for the worst of purposes."

See Rosc. Cr. Ev. 362; Deceit; Fraud; Misrepresentation.