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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>54753</law_id><section_number>19.2-271.3</section_number><catch_line>Communications between ministers of religion and persons they counsel or advise (Supreme Court Rule 2:503 derived in part from this section)</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><referred_to_by><reference>63.2-1509</reference></referred_to_by><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="19.2">Criminal Procedure</unit><unit label="chapter" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="16">Evidence and Witnesses</unit><unit label="article" level="3" order_by="1" identifier="1">In General</unit></structure><text>
						<section><p>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 <span class="dictionary">testimony</span> as a <span class="dictionary">witness</span> in any criminal action to disclose any information communicated to him by the <span class="dictionary">accused</span> 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 <span class="dictionary">counsel</span> and advice relative to and growing out of the information so imparted.</p></section></text><history>1985, c. 570.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
