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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: ab916@leicester.ac.uk
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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
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Royal College of Psychiatrists

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References

References

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