People v. Philips
New York Court of General Sessions
June 14, 1813
- Written by Elizabeth Yingling, JD
Facts
Reverend Anthony Kohlmann, the rector of a New York City Catholic church, returned some stolen property to its owner. The police questioned Kohlmann, but he refused to tell them from whom he had received the stolen property, asserting he obtained the information in his capacity as a priest during confession. Based on other information, the New York City District Attorney’s Office (plaintiff) charged Daniel Philips and his wife (defendants) with the receipt of stolen goods. At trial, the district attorney argued that Kohlmann had no constitutional right to refuse to answer questions about the information he had learned. Kohlmann argued that he was bound by the canons of his church and his obligations as a priest to maintain the absolute secrecy of information he received during the sacrament of confession. The district attorney countered that allowing Kohlmann to withhold evidence of matters related to the safety of society would grant an unconstitutional preference to Kohlmann’s religion.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Clinton, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,400 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
