{"formats":[{"name":"JSON","format":"json","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-json\/19.2-271.1.json"},{"name":"Plain Text","format":"text","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-text\/19.2-271.1.txt"},{"name":"XML","format":"xml","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-xml\/19.2-271.1.xml"},{"name":"HTML","format":"html","url":"\/downloads\/2025\/code-html\/19.2-271.1.html"}],"law_id":74995,"edition_id":1,"section_id":74995,"structure_id":12962,"section_number":"19.2-271.1","catch_line":"Competency of spouses to testify","history":"Code 1950, \u00a7 8-287; 1977, c. 624; 2020, c. 900.","full_text":"Persons married to each other shall be competent witnesses to testify for or against each other in criminal cases, except as otherwise provided.","order_by":null,"text":{"0":{"id":269406,"text":"Persons married to each other shall be competent witnesses to testify for or against each other in criminal cases, except as otherwise provided.","type":"section","prefixes":[""],"prefix":"","entire_prefix":"","prefix_anchor":"","level":1}},"ancestry":[{"id":12962,"edition_id":1,"name":"In General","identifier":"1","label":"article","depth":3,"order_by":1,"parent_id":12961,"metadata":{},"date_created":"2026-06-26 03:44:04","date_modified":"2026-06-26 03:44:04","permalink":{"id":169213,"object_type":"structure","relational_id":12962,"identifier":"1","token":"19.2\/16\/1","url":"\/19.2\/16\/1\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1}},{"id":12961,"edition_id":1,"name":"Evidence and Witnesses","identifier":"16","label":"chapter","depth":2,"order_by":1,"parent_id":12801,"metadata":{},"date_created":"2026-06-26 03:44:04","date_modified":"2026-06-26 03:44:04","permalink":{"id":169211,"object_type":"structure","relational_id":12961,"identifier":"16","token":"19.2\/16","url":"\/19.2\/16\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1}},{"id":12801,"edition_id":1,"name":"Criminal Procedure","identifier":"19.2","label":"title","depth":1,"order_by":1,"parent_id":null,"metadata":{},"date_created":"2026-06-26 03:43:53","date_modified":"2026-06-26 03:43:53","permalink":{"id":168169,"object_type":"structure","relational_id":12801,"identifier":"19.2","token":"19.2","url":"\/19.2\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1}}],"structure_contents":[{"id":70616,"structure_id":12962,"section_number":"19.2-267","catch_line":"Provisions applicable to witnesses in criminal as well as civil cases; 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certificate as to accuracy of equipment","url":"\/19.2-270.7\/","token":"19.2\/16\/1\/19.2-270.7","metadata":false},{"id":82522,"structure_id":12962,"section_number":"19.2-271","catch_line":"Certain judicial officers incompetent to testify under certain circumstances; exceptions (Supreme Court Rule 2:605 derived from this section)","url":"\/19.2-271\/","token":"19.2\/16\/1\/19.2-271","metadata":false},{"id":74995,"structure_id":12962,"section_number":"19.2-271.1","catch_line":"Competency of spouses to testify","url":"\/19.2-271.1\/","token":"19.2\/16\/1\/19.2-271.1","metadata":false},{"id":66486,"structure_id":12962,"section_number":"19.2-271.2","catch_line":"Testimony of spouses in criminal cases (Subsection (b) of Supreme Court Rule 2:504 derived from this section)","url":"\/19.2-271.2\/","token":"19.2\/16\/1\/19.2-271.2","metadata":false},{"id":54753,"structure_id":12962,"section_number":"19.2-271.3","catch_line":"Communications between ministers of religion and persons they counsel or advise (Supreme Court Rule 2:503 derived in part from this section)","url":"\/19.2-271.3\/","token":"19.2\/16\/1\/19.2-271.3","metadata":false},{"id":74779,"structure_id":12962,"section_number":"19.2-271.4","catch_line":"Privileged communications by certain public safety personnel","url":"\/19.2-271.4\/","token":"19.2\/16\/1\/19.2-271.4","metadata":false},{"id":55255,"structure_id":12962,"section_number":"19.2-271.5","catch_line":"Protected information; newspersons engaged in journalism","url":"\/19.2-271.5\/","token":"19.2\/16\/1\/19.2-271.5","metadata":false},{"id":58525,"structure_id":12962,"section_number":"19.2-271.6","catch_line":"Evidence of defendant's mental condition admissible; notice to Commonwealth","url":"\/19.2-271.6\/","token":"19.2\/16\/1\/19.2-271.6","metadata":false},{"id":63925,"structure_id":12962,"section_number":"19.2-271.7","catch_line":"Notifying defendant of consequences criminal proceedings can have on immigration","url":"\/19.2-271.7\/","token":"19.2\/16\/1\/19.2-271.7","metadata":false}],"previous_section":{"id":82522,"structure_id":12962,"section_number":"19.2-271","catch_line":"Certain judicial officers incompetent to testify under certain circumstances; exceptions (Supreme Court Rule 2:605 derived from this section)","url":"\/19.2-271\/","token":"19.2\/16\/1\/19.2-271","metadata":false},"next_section":{"id":66486,"structure_id":12962,"section_number":"19.2-271.2","catch_line":"Testimony of spouses in criminal cases (Subsection (b) of Supreme Court Rule 2:504 derived from this section)","url":"\/19.2-271.2\/","token":"19.2\/16\/1\/19.2-271.2","metadata":false},"metadata":false,"official_url":"https:\/\/law.lis.virginia.gov\/vacode\/19.2-271.1\/","history_text":"<p>The record of this law\u2019s original creation isn\u2019t available online. It has been modified 2 times. Those modifications are cataloged by \u201cThe Acts of Assembly,\u201d a state publication, by year and chapter. Those modifications that can be read on the General Assembly\u2019s website will be linked accordingly. Those modifications are as follows: in 1977, chapter 624; in 2020, chapter <a href=\"https:\/\/legacylis.virginia.gov\/cgi-bin\/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0900\">900<\/a>.<\/p>","references":false,"refers_to":false,"permalink":{"id":169299,"object_type":"law","relational_id":74995,"identifier":"19.2-271.1","token":"19.2\/16\/1\/19.2-271.1","url":"\/19.2-271.1\/","edition_id":1,"permalink":0,"preferred":1},"url":"\/19.2-271.1\/","token":"19.2\/16\/1\/19.2-271.1","dublin_core":{"Title":"Competency of spouses to testify","Type":"Text","Format":"text\/html","Identifier":"\u00a7 19.2-271.1","Relation":"Code of Virginia"},"html":"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section><p>Persons married to each other shall be competent witnesses to testify for or against each other in criminal cases, except as otherwise provided.<\/p><\/section>","plain_text":"                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA\n\nCOMPETENCY OF SPOUSES TO TESTIFY (\u00a7 19.2-271.1)\n\nPersons married to each other shall be competent witnesses to testify for or\nagainst each other in criminal cases, except as otherwise provided.\n\nHISTORY: Code 1950, \u00a7 8-287; 1977, c. 624; 2020, c. 900.","edition":{"id":1,"name":"2025","slug":"2025","date_created":"2026-06-21 22:39:22","date_modified":"2026-06-21 22:39:22","current":1,"order_by":1,"last_import":null}}