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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 many 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. Types 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 com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Evidence (law)
The law of evidence, also known as the rules of evidence, encompasses the rules and legal principles that govern the proof of facts in a legal proceeding. These rules determine what evidence must or must not be considered by the trier of fact in reaching its decision. The trier of fact is a judge in bench trials, or the jury in any cases involving a jury. The law of evidence is also concerned with the quantum (amount), quality, and type of proof needed to prevail in litigation. The rules vary depending upon whether the venue is a criminal court, civil court, or family court, and they vary by jurisdiction. The quantum of evidence is the amount of evidence needed; the quality of proof is how reliable such evidence should be considered. Important rules that govern admissibility concern hearsay, authentication, relevance, privilege, witnesses, opinions, expert testimony, identification and rules of physical evidence. There are various standards of evidence, standards sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Attorney–client Privilege
Attorney–client privilege or lawyer–client privilege is the name given to the common law concept of legal professional privilege in the United States. Attorney–client privilege is " client's right to refuse to disclose and to prevent any other person from disclosing confidential communications between the client and the attorney." The attorney–client privilege is one of the oldest privileges for confidential communications. The United States Supreme Court has stated that by assuring confidentiality, the privilege encourages clients to make "full and frank" disclosures to their attorneys, who are then better able to provide candid advice and effective representation. General requirements under United States law Although there are minor variations, the elements necessary to establish the attorney–client privilege generally are: # The asserted holder of the privilege is (or sought to become) a client; and # The person to whom the communication was made: ## is a member ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silent Witness Rule
The silent witness rule is the use of "substitutions" when referring to sensitive information in the United States open courtroom jury trial system. An example of a substitution method is the use of code-words on a "key card", to which witnesses and the jury would refer during the trial, but which the public would not have access to. The rule is an evidentiary doctrine that tries to balance the state secrets privilege with the bill of rights (especially the right of the accused to a public trial, and the right to due process). In practice the rule has been rarely used and was often challenged by judges and civil rights advocates. Its use remains controversial. Background The conflict between the open court and state secrets privilege goes back to at least 1802 and ''Marbury v. Madison''. Under the privilege, the government can dismiss any charges against it by claiming that important state secrets would be revealed at trial. In 1980 the Classified Information Procedures Act (C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shield Law
A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from melee weapon, close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, by means of active blocks, as well as to provide passive protection by closing one or more lines of engagement during combat. Shields vary greatly in size and shape, ranging from large panels that protect the user's whole body to small models (such as the buckler) that were intended for hand-to-hand-combat use. Shields also vary a great deal in thickness; whereas some shields were made of relatively deep, absorbent, wooden planking to protect soldiers from the impact of spears and crossbow bolts, others were thinner and lighter and designed mainly for deflecting blade strikes (like the roromaraugi or qauata). Finally, shields vary greatly in shape, ranging in roundness to angularity, proportional length and width, symmetry and edge pattern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Right To Silence
The right to silence is a legal principle which guarantees any individual the right to refuse to answer questions from law enforcement officers or court officials. It is a legal right recognized, explicitly or by convention, in many of the world's legal systems. The right covers a number of issues centered on the right of the accused or the defendant to refuse to comment or provide an answer when questioned, either prior to or during legal proceedings in a court of law. This can be the right to avoid self-incrimination or the right to remain silent when questioned. The right may include the provision that adverse inferences cannot be made by the judge or jury regarding the refusal by a defendant to answer questions before or during a trial, hearing or any other legal proceeding. This right constitutes only a small part of the defendant's rights as a whole. The origin of the right to silence is attributed to Sir Edward Coke's challenge to the ecclesiastical courts and their ''ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reporters' Privilege
Reporter's privilege in the United States (also journalist's privilege, newsman's privilege, or press privilege), is a "reporter's protection under constitutional or statutory law, from being compelled to testify about confidential information or sources." It may be described in the US as the qualified (limited) First Amendment or statutory right many jurisdictions have given to journalists in protecting their confidential sources from discovery. The First, Second, Third, Fifth, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, and D.C. Circuits have all held that a qualified reporter's privilege exists. In the recent case of '' U.S. v. Sterling'', the Fourth expressly denied a reporter's privilege exists under ''Branzburg''. Furthermore, forty-nine states and the District of Columbia have enacted statutes called shield laws protecting journalists' anonymous sources. United States Department of Justice guidelines (United States) The United States Department of Justice created self-impos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Public-interest Immunity
Public-interest immunity (PII), previously known as Crown privilege, is a principle of English common law under which the English courts can grant a court order allowing one litigant to refrain from disclosing evidence to the other litigants where disclosure would be damaging to the public interest. This is an exception to the usual rule that all parties in litigation must disclose any evidence that is relevant to the proceedings. In making a PII order, the court has to balance the public interest in the administration of justice (which demands that relevant material is available to the parties to litigation) and the public interest in maintaining the confidentiality of certain documents whose disclosure would be damaging. PII orders have been used in criminal law against large organised criminal outfits and drug dealers where the identity of paid police informants could be at risk. Seeking the order An order that PII applies would usually be sought by the British government to pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Privilege Log
A privilege log is a document that describes documents or other items withheld from production in a civil lawsuit under a claim that the documents are " privileged" from disclosure due to the attorney–client privilege, work product doctrine, joint defense doctrine, or some other privilege. Rule 26(b)(5)(A) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure requires that a party who withholds information on grounds of privilege must (i) expressly make the claim; and (ii) describe the nature of the documents, communications, or tangible things not produced or disclosed—and do so in a manner that, without revealing information itself privileged or protected, will enable other parties to assess the claim. A party withholding privileged documents from discovery complies with Rule 26(b)(5)(A) by producing a log containing the following information for each withheld document: the date, type of document, author(s), recipient(s), general subject-matter of the document, and the privilege being clai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deliberative Process Privilege
Deliberative process privilege is the common-law principle that the internal processes of the executive branch of a government are immune from normal disclosure or discovery in civil litigations, Freedom of Information Act requests, etc. The theory behind the protection is that by guaranteeing confidentiality, the government will receive better or more candid advice, recommendations and opinions, resulting in better decisions for society as a whole. The deliberative process privilege is often in dynamic tension with the principle of maximal transparency in government. In the context of the U.S. presidential offices and their workproducts, this principle is often referred to as executive privilege, or as a type of executive privilege that is distinct from "presidential communications privilege". See also *Public-interest immunity Public-interest immunity (PII), previously known as Crown privilege, is a principle of English common law under which the English courts can grant a cou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Admissible Evidence
Admissible evidence, in a court of law, is any testimonial, documentary, or tangible evidence that may be introduced to a factfinder—usually a judge or jury—to establish or to bolster a point put forth by a party to the proceeding. For evidence to be admissible, it must be relevant and "not excluded by the rules of evidence", which generally means that it must not be unfairly prejudicial, and it must have some indicia of reliability. The general rule in evidence is that all relevant evidence is admissible and all irrelevant evidence is inadmissible, though some countries (such as the United States and, to an extent, Australia) proscribe the prosecution from exploiting evidence obtained in violation of constitutional law, thereby rendering relevant evidence inadmissible. This rule of evidence is called the exclusionary rule. In the United States this was effectuated federally in 1914 under the Supreme Court case '' Weeks v. United States'' and incorporated against th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Classified Information Procedures Act
The Classified Information Procedures Act or CIPA ( through ) is codified as the third appendix to Title 18 of the U.S. Code, the title concerning crimes and criminal procedures. The U.S. Code citation i18 U.S.C. App. III. Sections 1-16 Legislative revision history The hidden table below lists the acts of Congress that affected the act directly. The years in which the legislative revisions were made appear in bold text preceding the Public Laws that enacted them. The links to the codification and the section notes may provide additional information about the legislative changes, as well. Applicable executive orders :*, Apr. 06, 198247 F.R. 14874 was rescinded by; :*, Apr. 17, 1995, , was rescinded after amended by; ::*, Sept. 18, 1995, , ::*, Nov. 19, 1999, , :*, Mar. 25, 2003, , was rescinded by; :*, Dec. 29, 2009, , (current) Purpose The primary purpose of CIPA was to limit the practice of graymail by criminal defendants in possession of sensitive government secrets. "Gra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
State Secrets Privilege
The state secrets privilege is an evidentiary rule created by United States legal precedent. Application of the privilege results in exclusion of evidence from a legal case based solely on affidavits submitted by the government stating that court proceedings might disclose sensitive information which might endanger national security. '' United States v. Reynolds'', which involved alleged military secrets, was the first case that saw formal recognition of the privilege. Following a claim of "state secrets privilege", the court rarely conducts an ''in camera'' examination of the evidence to evaluate whether there is sufficient cause to support the use of this doctrine. This results in court rulings in which even the judge has not verified the veracity of the assertion. The privileged material is completely removed from the litigation, and the court must determine how the unavailability of the privileged information affects the case. Function The purpose of the state secrets privile ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
