B. A special legal right, exemption, or immunity granted to a person or class of persons.
Listen to pronunciationLegal Definition -
1. A special legal right, exemption, or immunity granted to a person or class of persons, an exception to a duty. A privilege grants someone the legal freedom to do or not do a given act. It immunizes conduct that, under ordinary circumstances, would subject the actor to liability. 2. An affirmative defense by which a defendant acknowledges at least part of the conduct complained of but asserts that the defendant's conduct was authorized and sanctioned by law. Black's Law Dictionary® Eighth Edition © 2004
Examples of different privileges under common law:
Attorney-client privilege. The client's right to refuse to disclose and to prevent any other person from disclosing confidential communication between client and attorney.
Doctor-patient privilege. The right to exclude from discovery and evidence in a legal proceeding any confidential communication that a patient makes to a physician for the purpose of a diagnosis or treatment, unless the patient consents to the disclosure.
Marital privilege -
The privilege allowing a spouse not to testify, and to prevent another person from testifying, about confidential communications between the spouses during marriage.
Priest-penitent privilege -
The privilege barring a clergy member from testifying about a confessor's communications.