Annotation
Judicial attitudes to expert evidence in children's cases
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Introduction |
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The purpose of this article is firstly to explain the approach of the Family Division1 to expert evidence in children's cases and secondly to discuss the professional and practical implications of that approach for the expert witness.
Expert evidence is frequently of critical importance in proceedings relating to children, and there are cases in which it is determinative. Given the importance of the outcome of court proceedings for the child, and bearing in mind that judges have no medical training or specialist medical expertise, the dependence of the court on the skill, knowledge, and above all the professional and intellectual integrity of the expert witness cannot be overemphasised.
The ethos of the Children Act 1989 has led since its implementation in
October 1991 to a substantial volume of judge made law on the subject
of expert evidence. There is not space to examine it all in this
article.2 What I hope to
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