ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION The first thing to get straight is the difference between these two concepts. A privilege is a right that the law gives to a person allowing him to refuse to testify about a certain matter, or to refuse to produce a document or piece of real evidence. Public policy (often now referred to as ‘public interest immunity’) comes into the picture where it is thought that the disclosure of evidence would be damaging in some way to the general good. The most obvious example is where national security would be compromised if the evidence in question had to be given, or the disclosure made.
