The Establishment Of Relative Privilege Rights System In China

Relatives Privilege refers to the right not to provide testimony and protected information, based on the intimate relationship between the accused and his relatives. In essence, Relatives Privilege is a right to immune from testifying against his relatives, so it can be given up if the witness is willing to do so. However, this privilege dates back to ancient times when family members were bearing obligation to cover the crimes and secrets for each other, both in China and Western world. In recent years, several cases with false judgment or abusing family relationships have been disclosed, such as the Zhao Zuohai case, the She Xianglin case and the Qiu Xinghua case etc., which draw my attention when I think of the concept of relatives privilege. Researching the present PRC laws, especially the Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law, there are no rules about relatives'privilege against the witnesses'obligation to testify, but conferring statutory obligation of witness to anyone who knows the case fact without exemption. By historical and comparative law research, this thesis aims to demonstrate that there are both necessity and feasibility for China to establish the system of relatives'privilege. Some advice on how to establish such a system that tailored to China's national situation will also be discussed in the end.