Virginia § 19.2-271.3 Communications between ministers of religion and persons they counsel or advise (Supreme Court Rule 2:503 derived in part from this section)

Virginia Statutes

§ 19.2-271.3 — Communications between ministers of religion and persons they counsel or advise (Supreme Court Rule 2:503 derived in part from this section)

Virginia § 19.2-271.3

Title 19.2CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

Ch. 16EVIDENCE AND WITNESSES

Art. 1IN GENERAL

This text of Virginia § 19.2-271.3 (Communications between ministers of religion and persons they counsel or advise (Supreme Court Rule 2:503 derived in part from this section)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Va. Code Ann. § 19.2-271.3 (2026).

Text

No regular minister, priest, rabbi or accredited practitioner over the age of eighteen years, of any religious organization or denomination usually referred to as a church, shall be required in giving testimony as a witness in any criminal action to disclose any information communicated to him by the accused in a confidential manner, properly entrusted to him in his professional capacity and necessary to enable him to discharge the functions of his office according to the usual course of his practice or discipline, where such person so communicating such information about himself or another is seeking spiritual counsel and advice relative to and growing out of the information so imparted.

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No regular minister, priest, rabbi or accredited practitioner over the age of eighteen years, of any religious organization or denomination usually referred to as a church, shall be required in giving testimony as a witness in any criminal action to disclose any information communicated to him by the accused in a confidential manner, properly entrusted to him in his professional capacity and necessary to enable him to discharge the functions of his office according to the usual course of his practice or discipline, where such person so communicating such information about himself or another is seeking spiritual counsel and advice relative to and growing out of the information so imparted.