Will being bound by an oath of silence hold up in court/questioning?

Basically I hang out with a fair few undesirables, and they tell me about all the illegal things they do, but only if I swear not to tell anyone, recently I've lost contact, and shouldn't be involved in any of their crimes from hence forth. I was just wondering, if I were questioned, surely an oath of silence would give me the right to remain silent. If not how can someone be expectedto take the oath in court seriously?|||Yes, your oath of silence could hold up court proceedings until you regain your sanity.





You will be kept securely in jail until you do.|||The legal issue you're asking about is called "compellability."





You can generally be compelled to answer questions on anything in court, though there are a few situations that arise to prevent or limit this.





Defendants or their spouse/civil partner generally can not be compelled to give evidence in relation to the offence(s) charged. Exceptions apply.





Co-Defendants in the same proceedings are generally not compellable, though again exceptions apply.





You also have a privilege against self incrimination, so as a witness you have a right not to answer questions that would leave you open to future criminal charges. Again, exceptions apply. Some statutes make it an offence not answer certain questions, for example, but as a general rule those answers are not automatically evidence against you.





Your "oath of silence" does not give you any right to refuse to answer a question put to you. The oath in court should be taken seriously because failure to do so might get you locked up!|||You have the right the remain silent when you are arrested or otherwise interviewed by the police. However, in court you don't have that right. If you're summoned to court and you refuse to speak then you will be in comtempt of court. Contempt of court is a criminal offence for which you can be sentenced to imprisonment for.





Another option is not the be silent in court but rather to lie. This is a criminal offence also however: called perjury. This would probably be a better option though being that its quite obvious to the courts when you're in contempt of court in this instance (your lips don't move!) but not so obvious to tell if you're lying.





Hope this helps.|||You have not made an "oath of silence". You have merely promised not to talk about the illegal activities you have been told about. A simple promise not to do something would never be legally binding anyway, but even if it might be the legal system views any agreement to do something illegal (or cover it up) as void. So you have no right to remain silent.





In any case, even if your oath was genuine and would be respected, there are many other ways in which you could give evidence. For example, you could write down your answers to the questions that were asked.





At the end of the day, most witness can be compelled to give evidence, and can be found guilty of contempt of court or perjury if they refuse to do so or lie.|||I do not think so, if you have evidence that could convict someone and you refuse to divulge it because of a promise to someone you would be in contempt of court and could land in prison. You swear on the bible to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth.|||An oath of silence has no legal standing in any court I'm aware of. There is no honor among thieves and the court doesn't recognize any.|||ha ha nope, of course you can refuse to answer a question then you enter the realms of contempt of court..|||Well, it depends what your friends did, and if you know things that could help save someones life you shouldn't hold back. If you agreed not to tell anyone then theres nothing they can do, except try to force you out of it, but you should be careful, don't say your keeping a secret, just avoid questions. When they ask if they did anything illegal say "You have evidence of that yourself" or something. Outsmart them if it ever comes to it. But don't out-right lie. Sat they ask "Did you ever see them smoking canabis" Say no, because you never saw them. But if they ask "Do they smoke canabis" First ask if its something that charged for, if it is, your excuse is right there. If not, say you really don't know what they smoked, just that they did smoke, though smoking is not illegal. Twist it around slightly. Don't get yourself caught up. Need help? Ask away.|||Not if you made the decision now. Especially if they tracked your comp.


Also, you have the right to plead the 5th. Just don't lie; they can't make you talk.