Sec. 1-24. Who may administer oaths.
Sec. 1-24. Who may administer oaths. The following officers may administer
oaths: (1) The clerks of the Senate, the clerks of the House of Representatives and the
chairpersons of committees of the General Assembly or of either branch thereof, during
its session; (2) state officers, as defined in subsection (t) of section 9-1, judges and
clerks of any court, family support magistrates, judge trial referees, justices of the peace,
commissioners of the Superior Court, notaries public, town clerks and assistant town
clerks, in all cases where an oath may be administered, except in a case where the law
otherwise requires; (3) commissioners on insolvent estates, auditors, arbitrators and
committees, to parties and witnesses, in all cases tried before them; (4) assessors and
boards of assessment appeals, in cases coming before them; (5) commissioners appointed by governors of other states to take the acknowledgment of deeds, in the discharge of their official duty; (6) the moderator of a school district meeting, in such
meeting, to the clerk of such district, as required by law; (7) the first selectman, in any
matter before the board of selectmen; (8) the Chief Medical Examiner, Deputy Medical
Examiner and assistant medical examiners of the Office of the Medical Examiner, in
any matter before them; (9) registrars of vital statistics, in any matter before them; (10)
any chief inspector or inspector appointed pursuant to section 51-286; (11) registrars
of voters, deputy registrars, assistant registrars, and moderators, in any matter before
them; (12) special assistant registrars, in matters provided for in subsections (b) and (c)
of section 9-19b and section 9-19c; (13) the Commissioner of Public Safety and any
sworn member of any local police department or the Division of State Police within the
Department of Public Safety, in all affidavits, statements, depositions, complaints or
reports made to or by any member of any local police department or said Division of
State Police or any constable who is under the supervision of said commissioner or any
of such officers of said Division of State Police and who is certified under the provisions
of sections 7-294a to 7-294e, inclusive, and performs criminal law enforcement duties;
(14) judge advocates of the United States Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps,
law specialists of the United States Coast Guard, adjutants, assistant adjutants, acting
adjutants and personnel adjutants, commanding officers, executive officers and officers
whose rank is lieutenant commander or major, or above, of the armed forces, as defined
in section 27-103, to persons serving with or in the armed forces, as defined in said
section, or their spouses; (15) investigators, deputy investigators, investigative aides,
secretaries, clerical assistants, social workers, social worker trainees, paralegals and
certified legal interns employed by or assigned to the Public Defender Services Commission in the performance of their assigned duties; (16) bail commissioners employed by
the Judicial Department in the performance of their assigned duties; (17) juvenile matter
investigators employed by the Division of Criminal Justice in the performance of their
assigned duties; (18) the chairperson of the Connecticut Siting Council or the chairperson's designee; (19) the presiding officer at an agency hearing under section 4-177b;
(20) family relations counselors employed by the Judicial Department and support enforcement officers and investigators employed by the Department of Social Services
Bureau of Child Support Enforcement and the Judicial Department, in the performance
of their assigned duties; (21) the chairperson, vice-chairperson, members and employees
of the Board of Pardons and Paroles, in the performance of their assigned duties; and
(22) the Commissioner of Correction or the commissioner's designee.
(1949 Rev., S. 3575; 1955, S. 1958d; 1959, P.A. 152, S. 2; 1961, P.A. 165; 1967, P.A. 66, S. 1; 1969, P.A. 699, S. 17;
1971, P.A. 412, S. 9; 752; P.A. 73-185; P.A. 74-170; 74-186, S. 3, 12; P.A. 75-567, S. 19, 80; P.A. 76-111, S. 2; P.A. 77-614, S. 486, 587, 610; P.A. 78-303, S. 85, 136; P.A. 79-143, S. 3; 79-181; P.A. 80-174; 80-190, S. 1; 80-281, S. 1, 31;
P.A. 82-104; 82-298, S. 6; P.A. 86-180; 86-187, S. 1, 10; P.A. 87-316, S. 1; P.A. 88-132; 88-317, S. 35, 107; P.A. 90-57;
P.A. 91-24, S. 1, 8; P.A. 93-262, S. 1, 87; 93-329, S. 7; 93-435, S. 59, 95; P.A. 95-283, S. 22, 68; P.A. 96-58, S. 1, 2; P.A.
97-256, S. 2; P.A. 01-7; 01-84, S. 1, 26; P.A. 02-71, S. 1; 02-132, S. 1; P.A. 03-278, S. 1; P.A. 04-234, S. 2; 04-257, S.
113; P.A. 05-108, S. 1.)
History: 1959 act deleted county commissioners; 1961 act included assistant town clerks; 1967 act added lieutenant
governor and commissioner of state police and state and local police officers; 1969 act included chief, deputy and assistant
medical examiners of the office of medicolegal investigations, effective July 1, 1970; 1971 acts changed "medicolegal
investigations" to "medical examiner" and included county detectives; P.A. 73-185 included deputy and assistant registrars
and moderators; P.A. 74-170 included various officers of the armed services; P.A. 74-186 replaced county detectives with
chief or appointed detectives; P.A. 75-567 made technical changes; P.A. 76-111 changed "detective" to "inspector"; P.A.
77-614 and P.A. 78-303 changed commissioner and department of state police to commissioner and department of public
safety, effective January 1, 1979; P.A. 79-143 included special assistant registrars under certain conditions; P.A. 79-181
included restitution specialists in court-ordered investigations and reports; P.A. 80-174 replaced "governor, lieutenant
governor" with "state officers ..."; P.A. 80-190 deleted coroners; P.A. 80-281 broadened powers of special assistant registrars to administer oaths; P.A. 82-104 inserted Subdiv. indicators and added a subdivision authorizing certain employees
in the public defender services commission to administer oaths; P.A. 82-298 deleted reference to restitution specialists;
P.A. 86-180 added Subdiv. (16) authorizing the administration of oaths by bail commissioners, assistant bail commissioners
and certain employees of the office of the bail commission; P.A. 86-187 added Subdiv. (17) authorizing chairman of
Connecticut siting council or his designee to administer oaths; P.A. 87-316 authorized family support magistrates to
administer oaths; P.A. 88-132 amended Subdiv. (13) to authorize the commissioner of public safety and certain state and
local police officials to administer oaths to any constable who is under the supervision of said commissioner or any of
such officers of the division of state police and who is certified under Secs. 7-294a to 7-294e, inclusive, and performs
criminal law enforcement duties; P.A. 88-317 added Subdiv. (18) authorizing presiding officer at an agency hearing under
Sec. 4-177b to administer oaths, effective July 1, 1989, and applicable to all agency proceedings commencing on or after
that date; P.A. 90-57 amended Subdiv. (13) to authorize police department and state police corporals to administer oaths;
P.A. 91-24 authorized juvenile matter investigators to administer oaths; P.A. 93-262 and 93-435 substituted commissioner
and department of social services for commissioner and department of human resources, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 93-329 added Subdiv. (20) permitting family relations counselors of the family division of the superior court and support
enforcement officers and investigators to administer oaths in the performance of their assigned duties; P.A. 95-283 replaced
board of tax review with board of assessment appeals, effective July 6, 1995; P.A. 96-58 amended Subdiv. (13) to replace
"the chief, acting chief, superintendent of police, major, captain, lieutenant, sergeant and corporal" with "any sworn
member" of any local police department and amended Subdiv. (15) to include "social workers, social worker trainees,
paralegals and certified legal interns" among personnel of the Public Defender Services Commission authorized to administer oaths, effective May 7, 1996; P.A. 97-256 added Subdiv. (21) authorizing the chairman, vice-chairman and members
of the Board of Parole and parole officers and parole supervisors to administer oaths in the performance of their assigned
duties; P.A. 01-7 added Subdiv. (22) authorizing the Commissioner of Correction or the commissioner's designee to
administer oaths and made technical changes for the purposes of gender neutrality; P.A. 01-84 amended Subdiv. (17) to
specify that juvenile matter investigators are employed by the Division of Criminal Justice rather than the Judicial Department and made technical changes for purposes of gender neutrality, effective July 1, 2001; P.A. 02-71 amended Subdiv.
(2) to make a technical change and add "judge trial referees"; P.A. 02-132 replaced provision re bail commissioners, assistant
bail commissioners, secretaries and clerical assistants employed in the office of the Bail Commission with provision re
bail commissioners employed by the Judicial Department in Subdiv. (16), replaced provision re family relations counselors
of the Family Division of the Superior Court with provision re family relations counselors employed by the Judicial
Department in Subdiv. (20) and made technical changes in Subdivs. (2), (14) and (20); P.A. 03-278 made a technical
change in Subdiv. (2), effective July 9, 2003; P.A. 04-234 replaced Board of Parole with Board of Pardons and Paroles in
Subdiv. (21), effective July 1, 2004; P.A. 04-257 amended Subdiv. (21) to delete "parole officers and parole supervisors",
effective June 14, 2004; P.A. 05-108 amended Subdiv. (21) to include "employees" of the Board of Pardons and Paroles,
effective June 7, 2005.
See Sec. 53-368 re penalty for falsely certifying administration of oath.
Cited. 238 C. 588.
Cited. 9 CA 1. Cited. 16 CA 486.