Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus

The Latin maxim “falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus” means “false in one thing, false in everything”. This “is a hoary maxim which allows a fact-finder to disbelieve a witness’s entire testimony if the witness makes a material and conscious falsehood in one aspect of his testimony. The maxim is based on the logic that a person may mistakenly testify wrongly and still be believable, but if a person testifies falsely, willfully, and materially on one matter, then his “oath” or word is not “worth anything” and he is likely to be lying in other respects.” Li v. Holder, No. 08-70586 (9th Cir. 12/31/2013)

As Ron Paul puts it, “if an entity (person or government) has lied to you about one thing, it is safe (and legal) to assume that entity has lied to you about everything. Given the fact that the government has been caught lying over and over and over about things big and small, is it not safe to assume the government is lying to us about everything?”

Consider these examples: An American politician says “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it” and later health insurers tell their insureds that their policies are being cancelled because they do not conform to the Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare).

 A Filipino politician wins on a slogan “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap (“If there are no corrupt people, no one will suffer hardship”) and then allegedly uses pork barrel funds to “influence” senators to impeach the former Philippine Chief Justice Renato Corona, thus certain Manila columnists have started emphasizing the initials of his two given names “BS” (bovine sleaze?)

During the impeachment trial, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago cautioned prosecutors to be “extremely careful” in introducing fake documents, saying if there is proof that a specimen signature card on an alleged Corona bank deposit was falsified then the Senate might consider the maxim “falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus.” She explained that if the Senators are convinced that the prosecutors have been foisting a fake document, the Senate might invoke the maxim that if the prosecutors have been lying on one particular, then they have been lying on all particulars and the Senators will have to disbelieve everything that they offer in evidence. Philippine Daily Inquirer 02/22/12.

In folklore, one of Aesop’s Fables is “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” from whence was derived the idiomatic expression “to cry wolf” meaning to give a false alarm. A shepherd boy shouted “wolf, wolf” and the neighbors rushed to help him, thinking a wolf was attacking his flock but they found no wolf. Later the boy again cried “wolf, wolf” and the neighbors again came to his rescue, but there was no wolf. The third time he shouted “wolf, wolf” there was a real wolf but the neighbors ignored him and the wolf devoured his sheep. Three strikes and you are out.

The moral of this story according to Aristotle is that even when liars speak the truth no one will believe them.

According to Wikipedia, teachers have used the fable as a cautionary tale about telling the truth but a recent educational experiment suggested that reading "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" increased children’s likelihood of lying, while reading a book on George Washington and the cherry tree decreased their likelihood of lying. Therefore, a favorable outcome seems to be the key to the moral instruction of young people.

Immigration and falsus in unum

In the immigration context, the courts have applied the maxim falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus. Denying an alien’s asylum claim, a court held that the Board of Immigration Appeals and the immigration judge properly used the maxim to find that material inconsistencies in her testimony regarding one claim (religious persecution) discredited her testimony on another claim (forced abortion), thus all her testimony was properly discredited and supported an adverse credibility determination. Li v. Holder, No. 08-70586 (9th Cir. 12/31/2013).

(Atty. Tipon has a Master of Laws degree from Yale Law School and a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of the Philippines. He specializes in immigration law and criminal defense. Office: 800 Bethel St., Suite 402, Honolulu, HI 96813. Tel. (808) 225-2645. E-Mail: filamlaw@yahoo.com. Websites:  www.MilitaryandCriminalLaw.com. He is from Laoag City and Magsingal, Ilocos Sur. He served as an Immigration Officer. He is co-author of “Immigration Law Service, 1^st ed.,” an 8-volume practice guide for immigration officers and lawyers. Listen to the most funny, interesting, and useful radio program in Hawaii on KNDI at 1270 AM dial every Thursday at 7:30 a.m. This article is a general overview of the subject matter discussed and is not intended as legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is established between the writer and readers relying upon and/or acting pursuant to the contents of this article.)