| Автор | Elliott, D. W. |
| Дата выпуска | 1995 |
| dc.description | If a person has been duly sworn as a witness in a judicial proceeding, he must answer any relevant question put to him. If he does not do so, he risks being held by the judge to be in contempt of court and punished by being imprisoned or fined. The fact that the witness finds it repugnant to his sense of honour to give an answer which will break a confidence reposed in him by someone else does not excuse him from his duty. The public interest in the disclosure of all matters relevant to a judicial proceeding is regarded as so important that it prevails over any considerations of private honour between individuals. It is simply no answer for a witness to say ‘I was told this in confidence by a person who trusted me to keep his confidence’. This general attitude of English law has obvious and unwelcome implications for clergymen. A priest or clergyman will in the course of his ministry often receive private information from members of his flock, which his priestly duty requires him to keep secret. He might well be obliged to choose between disregarding his priestly duty or suffering legal penalties, which may be severe. Moreover, the prospect of having to submit him to this invidious choice will be repugnant to the judge; and the fact of such a choice being put, and of the clergyman being sent to gaol for doing his duty, is bound to cause dismay in large sections of the public. The possibility of this conflict of church and state actually happening is extremely small, but the fact that it exists at all is dismaying to many persons. |
| Формат | application.pdf |
| Издатель | Cambridge University Press |
| Копирайт | Copyright © Ecclesiastical Law Society 1995 |
| Название | An Evidential Privilege for Priest-Penitent Communications |
| Тип | research-article |
| DOI | 10.1017/S0956618X00002209 |
| Electronic ISSN | 1751-8539 |
| Print ISSN | 0956-618X |
| Журнал | Ecclesiastical Law Journal |
| Том | 3 |
| Первая страница | 272 |
| Последняя страница | 298 |
| Аффилиация | Elliott D. W.; University of Newcastle upon Tyne |
| Выпуск | 16 |
