Does a common-law spouse’s competence to testify protect the common law spouse's testimony?

Ontario, Canada


The following excerpt is from R. v. Nguyen, 2015 ONCA 278 (CanLII):

Although the distinction under consideration in Quebec v. A involved financial entitlements, similar reasoning applies here to protect the common-law spouse’s testimonial competence: witness spouses will not be deprived of their autonomy and freedom of choice to testify unless the spouses have clearly accepted this limitation by choosing to marry.

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