There are broadly three types of legal privilege - legal advice
privilege, litigation privilege and "Without Prejudice"
privilege.
In Malaysia, legal privilege stems from both the Evidence Act
1950 ("Evidence Act") and common law. Issues arise as to
which of these laws provide the basis for legal advice privilege
and which for litigation privilege and the application and reach of
these two types of privilege.
In brief, legal advice privilege is codified in section 126 of
the Evidence Act. Litigation privilege remains substantially within
the realm of common law save for when section 129 of the Evidence
Act applies to remove the protection of privilege in very limited
circumstances. "Without prejudice" privilege cloaks
written or oral communications which were genuinely made in an
attempt at settlement negotiations.
