Where any of the following authorities, namely, a judge of, or person presiding in, a court of record, or a petty sessional court, or any justice of the peace sitting in special sessions, or any sheriff or his lawful deputy before whom a writ of inquiry or a writ of trial is executed, is of opinion that any person has, in the course of a proceeding before that authority, been guilty of perjury, the authority may order the prosecution of that person for such perjury, in case there shall appear to be reasonable cause for such prosecution, and may commit him, or admit him to bail, to take his trial at the proper court, and may require any person to enter into a recognizance to prosecute or give evidence against the person whose prosecution is so ordered, and may give the person so bound to prosecute a certificate of the making of the order for the prosecution, for which certificate no charge shall be made.

An order made or a certificate given under this section shall not be given in evidence for the purpose or in the course of any trial of a prosecution resulting therefrom.