Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

informant's privilege

The qualified privilege that a government can invoke to prevent disclosure of the identity and communications of its informants. ( In exercising its power to formulate evidentiary rules for federal criminal cases, the U.S. Supreme Court has consistently declined to hold that the government must disclose the identity of informants in a preliminary hearing or in a criminal trial. McCray v. Illinois, 386 U.S. 300, 312, 87 S.Ct. 1056, 1063 (1967). A party can usu. overcome the privilege if it can demonstrate that the need for the information outweighs the public interest in maintaining the privilege. - Also termed informer's privilege.