privileged : Idioms & Phrases


Privileged communication

  • . (Law) (a) A communication which can not be disclosed without the consent of the party making it, such as those made by a client to his legal adviser, or by persons to their religious or medical advisers . (b) A communication which does not expose the party making it to indictment for libel, such as those made by persons communicating confidentially with a government, persons consulted confidentially as to the character of servants, etc.
Webster 1913

Privileged debts

  • (Law), those to which a preference in payment is given out of the estate of a deceased person, or out of the estate of an insolvent. Wharton. Burrill.
Webster 1913

Privileged witnesses

  • (Law) witnesses who are not obliged to testify as to certain things, as lawyers in relation to their dealings with their clients, and officers of state as to state secrets; also, by statute, clergymen and physicans are placed in the same category, so far as concerns information received by them professionally.
Webster 1913