Witnesses Bound to Answer Questions

A witness must answer questions legal and pertinent to the matter in issue, though his answer may establish a claim against himself, but he need not give an answer which will have a tendency to subject him to punishment for a crime, nor need he give an answer which will have a direct tendency to degrade his character, unless his be the very fact in issue, or to a fact from which the fact in issue will be presumed. What a witness must answer as to the fact of his previous conviction for a felony, if ordered by the judge shall be governed by Division 1 of this Title.