Cite as: 524 U. S. 666 (1998)
Opinion of the Court
the Fifth Amendment rests, does not protect witnesses against disclosing offenses in violation of the laws of another country. King of the Two Sicilies v. Willcox, 7 State Trials (N. S.) 1049, 1068. Queen v. Boyes, 1 B. & S., at 330[, 121 Eng. Rep., at 738]. This court has held that immunity against state prosecution is not essential to the validity of federal statutes declaring that a witness shall not be excused from giving evidence on the ground that it will incriminate him, and also that the lack of state power to give witnesses protection against federal prosecution does not defeat a state immunity statute. The principle established is that full and complete immunity against prosecution by the government compelling the witness to answer is equivalent to the protection furnished by the rule against compulsory self-incrimination. Counselman v. Hitchcock, 142 U. S. 547. Brown v. Walker, 161 U. S. 591, 606. Jack v. Kansas, 199 U. S. 372, 381. Hale v. Henkel, 201 U. S. 43, 68. As appellee at the hearing did not invoke protection against federal prosecution, his plea is without merit and the government's demurrer should have been sustained." Murdock, 284 U. S., at 149.
Murdock's resolution of the question received a subsequent complement when we affirmed again that a State could compel a witness to give testimony that might incriminate him under federal law, see Knapp v. Schweitzer, 357 U. S. 371 (1958), overruled by Murphy v. Waterfront Comm'n of N. Y. Harbor, 378 U. S. 52 (1964), testimony that we had previously held to be admissible into evidence in the federal courts, see Feldman v. United States, 322 U. S. 487 (1944), overruled by Murphy, supra, at 80.
B
It has been suggested here that our precedent addressing fear of prosecution by a government other than the compelling authority fails to reflect the Murdock rule uniformly.
677
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