History Main / SpousalPrivilege

** One episode of ''[[LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit SVU]]'' revolves around the concept that two {{Complete Monster}}s had married their victims ''precisely'' to abuse spousal privilege, something with which they openly mock the detectives. Their overconfidence eventually backfires when [[spoiler: investigations dig up a prior marriage license they hadn't gotten annulled, making their ''current'' marriages null and void]].

* Invoked in DowntonAbbey, where Anna is forced onto the sidelines at Bates' trial.
* In ''BoardwalkEmpire'' Nucky marries Margret partly so she cannot testify against him in his trial for the murder of her first husband.

At a [[TheDungAges less enlightened]] point in legal history, a woman's legal identity was overtaken by her husband. One of the results of this, when mixed with another old legal concept (you could not testify at your own trial), was that a wife could not testify, for or against, her husband. As the rules regarding legal personage and testimony changed, this turned into a rule that one spouse could not give adverse testimony against the other. Over the course of the 20th century, this rule has continued to change, generally transforming into a sort of privilege for certain communications.

* In ''{{The Sopranos}}, Adrianna gets this idea from a late night crime show and proposes to Christopher so she can't testify against him. Unfortunately, some clarification from an actual lawyer points out the flaws in this plan.

* This is a staple of ''LawAndOrder'', which tends to ping pong around a bit between marital confidence and spousal testimonial privilege, depending on the needs of the episode.

* ''TheCloser'' used variations on both types, on different occasions.
** In the first instance, the wife claims spousal privilege so she can't be forced to testify against her husband, which Brenda tells her doesn't apply in this case, though in the end, she testifies of her own will [[spoiler:as part of a plea deal, as she had committed the murder at her husband's instigation]].

* In ''BoardwalkEmpire'' Nucky marries Margret partly so she cannot testify against him in his trial for the murder of her first husband.

* A major plot point in AgathaChristie's ''Witness for the Prosecution''.

* There is a [[StarWars Luke/Mara]] fanfic, where the Republic wants to persecute Mara for her crimes. Their only witness is Luke. Now, being a Jedi Master, he's not supposed to lie... so he marries her, and thus gains the right not to testify.

* A major plot point in AgathaChristie's ''Witness For The Prosecution''.

* In ''{{Weeds}}'', Peter--who is a DEA agent--gets Nancy to marry him in [[VivaLasVegas Las Vegas]] to convince her that he won't try to arrest her for selling pot. (This is a definite YouFailLawForever moment. He knew she was a drug dealer before they got married, so the marital confidences privilege doesn't apply, and the spousal testimonial privilege wouldn't stop him from testifying if he wanted to.)
** The implication was actually, as I remember it, that he'd be in huge trouble if his wife was a drug dealer, so he'd have a selfish reason to avoid arresting her rather than merely his word.

** One episode of ''[[LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit SVU]]'' revolves around the concept that two {{Complete Monster}}s had married their victims ''precisely'' to abuse spousal privilege, something they openly mock the detectives with. Their overconfidence eventually backfires when [[spoiler: investigations dig up a prior marriage lisence they hadn't gotten annuled, making their ''current'' marriages null and void..]].

-->-- ''ArrestedDevelopment''

* In [[{{The Sopranos}} The Sopranos]], Adrianna gets this idea from a late night crime show and proposes to Christopher so she can't testify against him. Unfortunately, some clarification from an actual lawyer points out the flaws in this plan.
* In ''ArrestedDevelopment'', George Sr. (mistakenly) thinks that a husband and wife cannot be arrested for the same crime. When corrected by his son, he says "[[RunningGag I have the worst fucking attorneys.]]"

* In ''[[LordPeterWimsey The Nine Tailors]]'' by [[{{Ptitlewo6dni8e}} Dorothy L. Sayers]], the police won't allow [[spoiler:William and Mary Thoday]] to marry until the case is resolved, as they might need her testimony against him.

** The Rosenbergs would disagree with George Sr...

* ''TheCloser'' used variations on both types, on different occasions. In the first instance, the wife claims spousal privilege so she can't be forced to testify against her husband, which Brenda tells her doesn't apply in this case, though in the end, she testifies of her own will [[spoiler:as part of a plea deal, as she had committed the murder at her husband's instigation]]. In the second instance, the wife, after being told that her husband is a war criminal and likely murderer, she, in a state of shock, relates how her husband came home covered in blood (which she presumed was from the assault on him), then invoked spousal privilege and told the police they couldn't act on the information in that conversation. Brenda complies, and tries to find probable cause to search for traces of blood, [[spoiler:but in the end, they get around the spousal privilege by establishing that the husband used a fake name on his marriage certificate, thus nullifying the legality of the marriage and spousal privilege]].

* In ''[[PerryMason The Case of the Curious Bride]]'', the defendant's husband has damaging testimony against her. His family does not approve of her, so they're trying to get the marriage annulled so his testimony will be admissible.

When this is invoked in fiction, it tends to be ... [[YouFailLawForever broadly]] used to say that the other spouse ''can't'' be a witness, whether he or she wants to or not.

* This is a staple of ''LawAndOrder''. One notable example is the episode "Gov Love", which is about the interaction between spousal privilege and gay marriage. It also plays a role the 2009 season finale "The Drowned and the Saved", and many others. It also tends to ping pong around a bit between marital confidence and spousal testimonial privilege, depending on the needs of the episode. In the aforementioned "Gov Love," for example, the spouse cannot be ''compelled'' to testify, while in the earlier "Ego" a spouse who ''wants'' to testify can't because of the privilege.
** One episode of ''[[LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit SVU]]'' revolved around the concept that two {{Complete Monster}}s had ''married'' their victims ''precisely'' to abuse spousal privilege, something they openly mock the detectives with. Their overconfidence eventually backfires when [[spoiler: investigations dig up a prior marriage lisence they hadn't gotten annuled, making their ''current'' marriages null and void..]].

* This is a staple of ''LawAndOrder''. One notable example is the episode "Gov Love", which is about the interaction between spousal privilege and gay marriage. It also plays a role the 2009 season finale "The Drowned and the Saved", and many others.
** It also tends to ping pong around a bit between marital confidence and spousal testimonial privilege, depending on the needs of the episode. In the aforementioned "Gov Love," for example, the spouse cannot be ''compelled'' to testify, while in the earlier "Ego" a spouse who ''wants'' to testify can't because of the privilege.

* In ''ArrestedDevelopment'', George Sr. (mistakenly) thinks that a husband and wife cannot be arrested for the same crime. When corrected by his son, he says "[[RunningGag I've got the worst fucking attorney.]]"

* ''[[PerryMason The Case of the Curious Bride]]'', the defendant's husband has damaging testimony against her. His family does not approve of her, so they're trying to get the marriage annulled so his testimony will be admissible.
* A major plot point in BrightonRock

At an [[TheDungAges less enlightened]] point in legal history, a woman's legal identity was overtaken by her husband. One of the results of this, when mixed with another old legal concept (you could not testify at your own trial), was that a wife could not testify, for or against, her husband. As the rules regarding legal personage and testimony changed, this turned into a rule that one spouse could not give adverse testimony against the other. Over the course of the 20th century, this rule has continued to change, generally transforming into a sort of privilege for certain communications.

A husband and wife are, under certain circumstances, disallowed from testifying against each other. In reality, at least in America, there are two ways this can occur:
# Marital confidences privilege: Any private conversation between spouses during the marriage is only admissible as evidence if both allow it, even if they are later divorced.
# Spousal testimonial privilege: If only one is on trial, the spouse can't be compelled to testify against the one on trial. You actually have to be married at the time to take advantage of this one, and it is optional.

Naturally, when this is invoked in fiction, its application can be somewhat... [[YouFailLawForever broader]]. Commonly the second form of privilege is misinterpreted to say that the other spouse ''can't'' be a witness, whether they want to or not. Also note the key distinction between #2 and Doctor-Patient, Attorney-Client, or Priest-Penitent privilege: AC or PP privilege allows one person (the client) to prevent another (the attorney) from testifying. Only the client can waive it.

** Some jurisdictions will restrict this one to stuff that happened during the marriage, so YourMileageMayVary if you attempt to depend on this to get you off the hook.