When swearing an oath in court, why does it have to be the right hand that is raised?

So many jokes, so little time. I have no idea really though.

This from ASK.

Raising our right hand in oath is something that dates back many years. The reason why we raise our right hand is because, during Medieval times, the right hand was marked every time someone committed a crime. Therefore, raising their right hand to take an oath would allow the marks to be seen.

Because you’re not supposed to put the hand you wipe with on the Bible.

this is also why i eat popcorn with my left

Why do we always shake hands with the right, not the left?

That’s curious, @Pachyderm_In_The_Room. I’d be tempted to look further. That sounds to me like one of those semi-plausible explanations that turn out to be conjecture. I would have thought that swearing oaths, especially oaths of office, would have been more common among the privileged than the criminal classes.

I would also have speculated that there’s a connection between the symbolic raising of the right hand to swear and the handedness of most of the population, hence not only associated with the use of weapons but also signifying something of maximum value. Think of gestures of loyalty, hand to heart, raising the right hand in affirmation, shaking hands, etc. (@SadieMartinPaul, I’ve read repeatedly that shaking right hands is a gesture of good faith, showing that there’s no weapon in your hand, but that too might just be attractive but unfounded lore.)

The reason we do it now, I would say, is custom. It doesn’t mean that anything is wrong with the left, any more than bowing in certain cultures means that something is wrong with not bowing in others, or covering the head in one means that it’s wrong to uncover the head in another. Consistency of practice in certain recognizable things characterizes a culture and doesn’t necessarily require an explanation.

Because the right side is ‘good’ and the left side is ‘bad,’ according to some religions and such.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir I’ve never heard anyone say the left was ‘bad’, we just think differently about a lot of things.

Personally I have a lot of family and friends that I respect very much that are lefties and we have really good discussions and pleasant arguments, all leading back to our common goals of fixing the broken parts of our country/ government.

We can’t allow our government to divide us, regardless of how both sides try to do so.

@KNOWITALL http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/39092/how-did-sinister-the-latin-word-for-left-handed-get-its-current-meaning

@simone De

The terms “left” and “right” appeared during the French Revolution of 1789 when members of the National Assembly divided into supporters of the king to the president’s right and supporters of the revolution to his left. One deputy, the Baron de Gauville explained, “We began to recognize each other: those who were loyal to religion and the king took up positions to the right of the chair so as to avoid the shouts, oaths, and indecencies that enjoyed free rein in the opposing camp.” However the Right opposed the seating arrangement because they believed that deputies should support private or general interests but should not form factions or political parties. The contemporary press occasionally used the terms “left” and “right” to refer to the opposing sides.[10]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left%E2%80%93right_politics

@KNOWITALL Yes, but I was going to its latin translations.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Of course, but I’m saying it’s not a negative connotation for most of us, nor did it originate with a negative intention. :)

@KNOWITALL True.

Because the left hand is sinister.