Privilege (evidence)

In the law of evidence, a privilege is a rule of evidence that allows the holder of the privilege to refuse to disclose information or provide evidence about a certain subject or to bar such evidence from being disclosed or used in a judicial or other proceeding.

There are a large number of such privileges recognised by the judicial system, some stemming from the common law and others from statute law. Each privilege has its own rules, which often vary between jurisdictions.

One well known privilege is the solicitor–client privilege, referred to as the attorney–client privilege in the United States and as the legal professional privilege in Australia. This protects confidential communications between a client and his or her legal adviser for the dominant purpose of legal advice. The rationale is that clients ought to be able to communicate freely with their lawyers, in order to facilitate the proper functioning of the legal system.

Other common forms include privilege against compelled self-incrimination (in other proceedings), without prejudice privilege (protecting communications made in the course of negotiations to settle a legal dispute), public interest privilege (formerly Crown privilege, protecting documents for which secrecy is necessary for the proper functioning of government), marital privilege, medical professional privilege, and clergy–penitent privilege.

In the US, several states have enacted the Uniform Mediation Act (UMA) which specifies a mediator's privilege with regard to state procedures.

In the United Kingdom, the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 provides that evidence relating to spent convictions (those in respect of which the Act says the convicted person is rehabilitated, generally older and less serious ones) is inadmissible, and provides privilege against answering questions relating to such convictions; although some exceptions apply, in particular in criminal proceedings.

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