Bum-Marriage Doctrine Law and Legal Definition
Bum-Marriage doctrine is also referred to as viability doctrine. Bum-Marriage doctrine is the principle that the marital witness privilege shall not be asserted by a partner in a marriage which in fact is moribund, even if legally valid. This doctrine permits the courts to look into the state of marriage in order to decide and determine whether the protection of the relationship outweighs the suppression of evidence that would result if marital privileges were to apply.
