Legal Question in Criminal Law in Michigan

Recording conversations

Most states have "one party consent" laws ... meaning that only one person participating in a private conversation needs to consent to it being recorded. A small handful require all participants in a private conversation to consent.

Michigan's eavesdropping law (MCL 750.539c) says that it is illegal to "eavesdrop" on a private conversation. BUT, 750.539a(2) limits eavesdropping to the PRIVATE discourses OF OTHERS without the permission of all persons engaged in the discourse.

Sullivan v Gray, 117 Mich App 476, 481 (1982) held that the issue turns on the words "of others". A "potential eavesdropper must be a third party not otherwise involved in the conversation being eavesdropped on."

Thus, Michigan is a "one-party consent" state. A person can legally record conversations he participates in because be consents to himself recording it!