QUIETLY and without public comment, the House Judiciary Committee is preparing for possible impeachment hearings in case Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr delivers a report detailing offences by President Clinton that warrant such action. Defenders of the president claim that even if he lied under oath and in fact did have a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky, "everybody lies about sex" and therefore such a lie should not be an impeachable offence.

The legal history of lying under oath in civil cases, now being researched by the committee, proves otherwise. Judge Walter Nixon was impeached on May 10, 1989, for lying about interfering with the criminal prosecution of his business partner’s son, who had been accused of drug smuggling.

Article One of his impeachment said: "In the course of his grand jury testimony and having taken an oath that he would tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, Judge Nixon did knowingly and contrary to his oath make a material or misleading statement to the grand jury . . . Wherefore, Judge Walter H Nixon Jr is guilty of an impeachable offence and should be removed from office."

Article Three of Judge Nixon’s impeachment focuses on the consequence of lying under oath. "By virtue of his office as a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, Judge Nixon is required to uphold the integrity of the judiciary, to avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety and to obey the laws of the United States.

"Judge Nixon has raised substantial doubt as to his judicial integrity, undermined confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary, betrayed the trust of the people of the United States and brought disrepute on the federal courts and the administration of justice by the federal courts . . ." The president of the United States should be held to no less a standard.

Judge (now Democrat Florida Representative) Alice Hastings was impeached in 1988 for making false statements in a case involving bribery and reductions in sentences.

District Court for the District of Nevada, was impeached in July 1986 because he "did wilfully and knowingly" file a false return with the Internal Revenue Service, a form of lying under oath since he signed a statement swearing the information he provided was true.

More recently, and with even more relevance to President Clinton’s situation, Barbara Battalino, a former hospital physician with the Veterans Administration, was fined $3 500 by an Idaho judge and ordered to serve a year of probation after she admitted giving false testimony in a federal civil proceeding involving a sexual impropriety. So much for there being no legal precedent for penalising those who lie under oath about sex.

Now, in a period marking the 24th anniversary of Richard Nixon’s resignation as president, we can re-examine the articles of impeachment against him, which a young attorney named Hillary Rodham helped research.

In an impeachment document dated August 20, 1974, the House of Representatives formally accused Nixon of "(1) making or causing to be made false or misleading statements to lawfully authorised investigative officers and employees of the United States; (2) withholding relevant and material evidence or information from lawfully authorised and investigative officers and employees of the United States; (3) approving, condoning, acquiescing in and counselling witnesses with respect to the giving of false or misleading statements to lawfully authorised investigative officers and employees of the United States and false or misleading testimony in duly instituted judicial and congressional proceedings . . ."