ABSTRACT
The rules that grant certain relationships an evidentiary privilege have been called a ‘unique aspect of evidence law’2 because they contravene the traditional common law principle that ‘the public has a right to every man’s evidence’.3 They have been criticised on the grounds that ‘rather than facilitating the illumination of the truth, they shut out the light’.4 They have also been defended as ‘important protectors of individual privacy in modern society’.5 And they recently received a good deal of public attention in the US, as President Bill Clinton and other executive branch officials asserted various privileges in response to testimony sought by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr.6 But they have not been subjected to a feminist critique.7
