§ SIR WALTER FOSTER (Derby, Ilkeston)I beg to ask the Attorney General whether he has considered the form in which the oath is administered in Courts of Justice in England with reference to the sanitary objections urged against it; and whether it is the intention of the Government to make any proposals for amending the Law so as to abolish the objectionable practice known as kissing the book.
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERALI can only repeat my reply to the hon. Member that I think the sanitary objections to the present method of administering the oath have been somewhat exaggerated. Personally I believe 1224 the option at present of swearing in the Scotch form, which is becoming every day more generally known, is sufficient. It is not the intention of the Government to amend the law, at any rate during the present Session.