9th commandment

20:16  Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

The 9th commandment is commonly interpreted as a injunction against lying in general. Better interpretations are that it is an injunction against bearing false witness and accusing your neighbor of something he or she did not do.

Generally prior to innocent before proven guilty most cultures used a guilty until proven innocent approach. The act of accusing somebody of a crime was a serious step and unless they could prove their innocence they could be executed for the crime. The crimes of perjury or filing a false police report are probably more accurate than lying. Due to improvements to our legal code, this commandment has little application to today.