Different regions have varying legal definitions of privileged communication, which includes confidential conversations between two people, such as attorney-client, physician-patient, spousal communication, and clergy-penitent privileges. These privileges are not absolute and may be waived in certain circumstances. The purpose of privileged communication is for practical purposes and to foster certain relationships. It’s important to understand the laws in one’s jurisdiction to determine if a conversation is truly privileged.
In law, privileged communication can have slightly different legal definitions depending on the region where a person lives. Typically, an insider communication is a confidential conversation between two people in which the person receiving information from someone else cannot pass it on or testify about it in court.
There is a privileged type of communication between a lawyer and his client. While a client might incriminate himself during privileged attorney-client communications, the attorney may be prohibited from sharing information with a third party. This privilege, however, is not absolute. An attorney may not get involved with a client who he knows has lied in the dock. If a lawyer is concerned that this might happen, he may have to turn the case over to someone else or, as is more often likely, persuade the client not to testify. As a result, attorneys often tell their clients not to argue guilt or innocence to avoid this scenario. Furthermore, the privilege does not extend to communication between a client and an attorney dealing with the future commission of a crime; if a client informed a lawyer that a crime was to be committed, the lawyer is generally required to disclose that information to the appropriate authorities.
There is another common type of privileged communication between patient and doctor. Physician-patient or therapist-patient privilege typically prevents the physician or psychologist from disclosing confidential communications about a patient in or out of court. Like attorney-client privilege, however, doctor-patient privilege is not absolute. Physicians and therapists are generally authorized to disclose otherwise confidential information if that person or another person is in physical danger.
There are two kinds of privileges between husband and wife: spousal immunity and spousal communication. Marital immunity has to do with the privilege not to testify against a spouse in a criminal case, and the spousal communication privilege has to do with the protection of any communication made between spouses for the purposes of civil or criminal cases. These privileges can create confusion when a spouse commits a crime against their spouse, who may necessarily waive the privilege. If one spouse commits a felony outside of marriage and confesses it to the other spouse, the privilege is usually retained.
The last major category of privilege is the clergy-penitent privilege. Communications made to a member of the clergy – whether an imam, rabbi, priest or minister – as a spiritual adviser are privileged is actually a common law rule. The privilege extends to any person acting as a spiritual counselor at the time of communication and is very similar to the attorney-client privilege.
The American legal system typically cites two reasons for having privileged communications: for practical purposes and to foster certain relationships. The practicality argument arose from the fact that priests were unwilling to reveal information about a penitent if it meant that the penitent would be sentenced to capital punishment as priests are typically opposed to the death penalty. Additionally, courts detect a social purpose for the privilege: Without it, people may not seek needed medical care or withhold critical information that a lawyer would need to deliver the most compelling case for his or her client. Because laws can vary between jurisdictions, it’s still important for people to understand whether the conversation they’re having is truly privileged.
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