Virginia legal term
Judge of competent jurisdiction in Virginia Criminal Law
Current through 2026 Virginia legislative session
In Virginia criminal law, “Judge of competent jurisdiction” is a term defined by statute rather than by its everyday meaning. Its statutory definition — quoted verbatim below — controls how the term is applied throughout the Virginia criminal code.
What does “Judge of competent jurisdiction” mean in Virginia criminal law?
"Judge of competent jurisdiction" means a judge of any circuit court of the Commonwealth with general criminal jurisdiction; "Monitor" or "monitoring" means the actual auditory or visual acquisition of an intercepted communication by any means; "Oral communication" means any oral communication uttered by a person exhibiting an expectation that such communication is not subject to interception under circumstances justifying such expectations but does not include any electronic communication; "Pen register" means a device or process that records or decodes dialing, routing, addressing or signali (Va. Code Ann. § 19.2-61)
Statutes defining or using this term
Related terms in the same statutes
This reference is informational and is not legal advice.