Expert Evidence: Duties, Reliability and Limits
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Most electronic evidence reaches the court through a person: the examiner who extracted the phone, the analyst who mapped the calls. That person gives opinions, and the court may rely on them. So the law asks more of an expert than of other witnesses.
Focus: who counts as an expert, the expert's duty, how courts test reliability, and where an expert must stop. This unit is general knowledge. It is not legal advice. Rules of professional conduct differ by country, so check with your own bar or regulator.
Learning objectives
- Tell a witness of fact from an expert, and say who may give an opinion.
- State the expert's duty to the court, and what it requires in practice.
- Compare how named legal systems test the reliability of expert evidence.
- Recognise an expert who has gone beyond the field, the data or the method.
- Instruct an expert, and test one, fairly.
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