No judge shall be competent to testify in any criminal or civil proceeding as to any matter which came before him in the course of his official duties.
Except as otherwise provided in this section, no clerk of any court, magistrate, or other person having the power to issue warrants, shall be competent to testify in any criminal or civil proceeding as to any matter which came before him in the course of his official duties. Such person shall be competent to testify in any criminal proceeding wherein the defendant is charged with perjury or pursuant to the provisions of § 18.2-460 or in any proceeding authorized pursuant to § 19.2-353.3. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, any judge, clerk of any court, magistrate, or other person having the power to issue warrants, who is the victim of a crime, shall not be incompetent solely because of his office to testify in any criminal or civil proceeding arising out of the crime.
Code 1950, §§ 19.1-267, 19.1-268; 1960, c. 366; 1975, c. 495; 1976, c. 269; 1989, c. 738; 1990, c. 602; 2015, c. 635.
Structure Code of Virginia
Title 19.2 - Criminal Procedure
Chapter 16 - Evidence and Witnesses
§ 19.2-267.1. Authority of law-enforcement officer to issue summons to witness; failure to appear
§ 19.2-267.2. Response to subpoena for information stored in electronic format
§ 19.2-268. Right of accused to testify
§ 19.2-268.3. Admissibility of statements by children in certain cases
§ 19.2-269. Convicts as witnesses (Supreme Court Rule 2:609 derived from this section)
§ 19.2-269.1. Inmates as witnesses in criminal cases
§ 19.2-269.2. Nondisclosure of addresses or telephone numbers of crime victims and witnesses
§ 19.2-270. When statement by accused as witness not received as evidence
§ 19.2-270.1. Use of photographs as evidence in certain larceny and burglary prosecutions
§ 19.2-270.1:1. Computer and electronic data in obscenity, etc. cases; access to defendant
§ 19.2-270.3. Admissible evidence as to identity of party presenting bad check, draft or order
§ 19.2-270.4. When donation, destruction, or return of exhibits received in evidence authorized
§ 19.2-270.4:1. Storage, preservation and retention of human biological evidence in felony cases
§ 19.2-270.5. DNA profile admissible in criminal proceeding
§ 19.2-271.1. Competency of spouses to testify
§ 19.2-271.4. Privileged communications by certain public safety personnel
§ 19.2-271.5. Protected information; newspersons engaged in journalism
§ 19.2-271.6. Evidence of defendant's mental condition admissible; notice to Commonwealth
§ 19.2-273. Certificate that witness is needed in another state; hearing
§ 19.2-274. When court to order witness to attend
§ 19.2-276. Penalty for failure to attend and testify
§ 19.2-277. Summoning witnesses in another state to testify in this Commonwealth
§ 19.2-279. Penalty for failure of such witnesses to testify
§ 19.2-280. Exemption of such witnesses from arrest or service of process