Hostname: page-component-669899f699-chc8l Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-04T05:24:20.507Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The expert witness: a brief evolutionary history

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2024

Asit B. Biswas Open the ORCID record for Asit B. Biswas [Opens in a new window]  and
Patricia Casey Open the ORCID record for Patricia Casey [Opens in a new window]
Asit B. Biswas*
Affiliation:
Consultant psychiatrist with Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, working in the Agnes Unit, Leicester, UK, and an Honorary Professor in the Department of Health Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
Patricia Casey
Affiliation:
Consultant psychiatrist in the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. She is Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at University College, Dublin, Ireland, and Adjunct Professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Notre Dame, Sydney, Australia.
*
Correspondence Asit B. Biswas. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

In legal parlance, a ‘witness’ must have personal knowledge of the facts that form the basis of their inference or opinion. However, unlike an ordinary or a professional witness, an expert witness can provide opinion evidence, an exception to this doctrine. The evolution of the role of an expert witness or a skilled witness (in Scotland) is outlined in this clinical reflection.

Keywords

Expert witnesscourtevidencehistoryopinion
Type
Clinical Reflection
Information
BJPsych Advances , Volume 30 , Special Issue 6: Expert Psychiatric Evidence - including topics from the Grange Medicolegal Conference , November 2024 , pp. 335 - 337
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Royal College of Psychiatrists

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

References

Charleton, P, Rakhmanin, I (2024) Expert evidence: dangers and the enhancement of reasoning. BJPsych Advances, this issue (Epub ahead of print: 15 May 2024). Available from: https://doi.org/10.1192/bjq.2024.18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodgkinson, T, James, M (2014) Expert Evidence: Law and Practice (5th edn). Sweet & Maxwell.Google Scholar
Rix, KJB (1999) Expert evidence and the courts: 1. The history of expert evidence. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 5: 71–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rix, K, Eastman, E, Adshead, G, et al (2023) Responsibilities of Psychiatrists Who Provide Expert Evidence to Courts and Tribunals (College Report CR193). Royal College of Psychiatrists (https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/docs/default-source/improving-care/better-mh-policy/college-reports/college-report-cr193.pdf?sfvrsn=c0381b24_2).Google Scholar
Davie v Magistrates of Edinburgh [1953] SC 34.Google Scholar
Folkes v Chadd (1782) 3 Doug KB 157.Google Scholar
Kennedy v Cordia (Services) LLP [2016] UKSC 6.Google Scholar
M'Naghten's Case (1843) 10 Cl & F 200.Google Scholar
National Justice Compania Navierra S.A. v Prudential Assurance Co. Ltd (‘Ikarian Reefer’) [1993] 37 EG 158.Google Scholar
R v Bunnis (1964) 50 WWR 422.Google Scholar
R v Silverlock [1894] 2 QB 766.Google Scholar
R v Sullivan [1984] AC 156.Google Scholar
Davie v Magistrates of Edinburgh [1953] SC 34.Google Scholar
Folkes v Chadd (1782) 3 Doug KB 157.Google Scholar
Kennedy v Cordia (Services) LLP [2016] UKSC 6.Google Scholar
M'Naghten's Case (1843) 10 Cl & F 200.Google Scholar
National Justice Compania Navierra S.A. v Prudential Assurance Co. Ltd (‘Ikarian Reefer’) [1993] 37 EG 158.Google Scholar
R v Bunnis (1964) 50 WWR 422.Google Scholar
R v Silverlock [1894] 2 QB 766.Google Scholar
R v Sullivan [1984] AC 156.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.