Commonwealth v. Pollard, 12 Met. 225 - 1847

—was a prosecution for perjury, it was said that it must be alleged in the indictment that the matter sworn to was material, or the facts set forth as falsely and corruptly sworn to should be sufficient in themselves to show such materiality.

And when a party is indicted for perjury in giving testimony on the trial of an issue in Court, proof that his testimony was admitted on that trial is not sufficient to warrant a Jury, on the trial of the indictment, to infer that such testimony was material to the issue.

To sustain a conviction for perjury, false testimony must be given "in a matter material to the issue or point in question." GLc 268, § 1.

This court, in discussing an indictment for perjury in a judicial proceeding, said that a wilfully false answer "if it be of no importance and immaterial... is not perjury, because it does not affect the issue," although "[i] t is enough if...[the answer is] circumstantially material, though not in itself sufficient to establish the issue."

To convict the defendant of perjury, there must be two witnesses to negative the truth of the matter upon which the crime is assigned

—but an indictment will not be defective for failure to include it as an element if sufficient facts are set forth in the indictment to establish materiality.

[BOOK] A Treatise on the Law of Evidence: Vol. 2