http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauper%27s_oath
PAUPER'S OATH - A pauper's oath is a sworn statement or oath by a person that he or she is completely destitute or a pauper, i.e. without any money or property.
Historically, especially during the Great Depression, the pauper's oath was required as a prerequisite for receiving welfare or other forms of government relief in the United States.
One pauper's oath used when establishing indigent status under United States
Federal law is as follows:
" I do solemnly swear that I have not any property, real or personal, exceeding $20, except such as is by law exempt from being taken on civil process for debt; and that I have no property in any way conveyed or concealed, or in any way disposed of, for my future use or benefit. So help me God."
[Ed. note: Seventh amendment guarantees the "rules of the common law" and a constitutional jury trial when the value exceeds $20. FDR abolished pauper's oath as a prerequisite for "entitlements" because every participant surrendered his private property rights, and became a "human resource" owing billions and billions more than he would ever own or possess.]