immunity
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 322 U.S. 487 - Feldman v. United States · 1944Most cited · 496 citing opinions
self-incrimination
full and complete immunity against prosecution by the government compelling the witness to answer is equivalent to the protection furnished by the rule against compulsory self-incrimination
How the Supreme Court has restated “immunity”
Each Supreme Court definition of “immunity,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “immunity”
Court decisions citing the 3 opinions that defined “immunity” — 922 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 3 definitions, chronological · 1910–1966
- ORIGINAL
the statute does not intend to secure to a person making such a plea immunity from prosecution, but to provide him with a shield against successful prosecution, available to him as a defense; and that when this defense is improperly overruled, it may be a basis for the reversal of a final judgment against him.
against prosecution under federal statute
A witness has, we think, a constitutional right to stand on the privilege against self-incrimination until it has been fairly demonstrated to him that an immunity, as broad in scope as the privilege it replaces, is available and applicable to him.