Religious Confession Privilege and the Common Law

Long a commercial law partner in Auckland, New Zealand, Thompson is now in Ghana serving as area legal counsel for the Latter Day Saints (LDS) Church for Africa. He explores how the seal of confession in Catholic canon law found its way into common law in anglophone culture, and why it was said to have been extinguished. He considers religious confession privilege in early evidence texts, the historical context, religious confession and privilege in canon law and from the 17th century to the 20th, religious communications privilege at common law, theories about the extinction of religious confession privilege, and whether there should be a policy of religious confession privilege. Chapters also survey religious confession privileges in Australia, Britain and Ireland, the US, Canada and New Zealand, and South Africa. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

A. Keith Thompson, LLB (Hons) (1981); M Jur (1993), University of Auckland, PhD (2007) in Law, Murdoch University, worked as Area Legal Counsel in the Pacific for the LDS Church from 1991 until 2009 following a career in commercial law as a partner in an Auckland law firm. He now works as Area Legal Counsel for the LDS Church for Africa from offices in Ghana.