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Glite Dictionary
marital communications privilege

marital communications privilege

9.9
A legal rule that stops a husband or wife from talking about private conversations during their marriage
  • noun
  • /ˈmɛrɪtəl kəˈmjunɪˌkeɪʃənz ˈprɪvɪlɪdʒ/
  • Formal
translation icon : privilegio de comunicación marital
  • The marital communications privilege prevented her from testifying about private conversations with her husband.

Examples

  • Lawyers often cite the marital communications privilege when discussing evidence obtained during marriage.

  • Due to the marital communications privilege, the court excluded certain statements exchanged between the spouses.

  • The marital communications privilege protects private discussions.

  • Many states recognize the marital communications privilege in court.

  • The lawyer argued that the testimony violated the couple's marital communications privilege, which protects their confidential discussions.

  • During the trial, the judge upheld the marital communications privilege, preventing the couple's private conversations from being revealed.

  • Due to the marital communications privilege, they were unable to disclose any details about their discussions in court.

Synonyms

husband-wife privilege
vsmarital communications privilege
  • Formal
9.1

A right that stops a spouse from being forced to tell private conversations with their spouse during marriage in court

prevents either spouse from disclosing private talks, not only protection from compulsion

Surface Forms

marital communications privilege singular
marital communications privileges plural

Morphology

marital + communication + privilege

The phrase is directly compositional: 'marital' = relating to marriage, 'communications' = exchanges of information, and 'privilege' = a legal right not to disclose. Although it is legal terminology, the meaning — a legal right protecting spouses' communications — follows from the constituent meanings and would be inferable to a B1 learner who knows each word.

Etymology

Marital communications privilege comes from the idea that talks between married people are 'private' and should stay between them. The word marital means married, communications means talks, and privilege is a special right, so the rule stops spouses from being forced to share those private talks in court.