Effective examination of expert evidence : forensic evidence in criminal proceedings / Honourable Justice Peter Applegarth.

Brisbane : Supreme Court Library Queensland 2021

198836

Evidence, Expert.

Examination of witnesses -- Australia.

Mental health personnel -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- Australia.

Speeches, addresses, etc. -- Queensland.

Many of you are too young to have seen the late Bill Pincus in action, either as a barrister or as a judge. He was a man of great learning and intelligence. One of his hobbies was astrophysics and he was interested in science more generally. He often would start a social conversation with “Have you read the latest part of Scientific American?", to which my invariable answer was "No", which then allowed him to tell me and others all about it. One of his many celebrated feats of cross-examination of an expert witness occurred when he was a judge, not as lawyer. Judges are not supposed to examine witnesses. But Bill Pincus had certain European sensibilities, and so he would occasionally ask questions, in the style of a European judge, to aid the fact-finding process. Having quickly exposed some flaws in the expert's evidence, Pincus added this barb: “Call yourself a scientist?". The judge was disappointed at a person of science not adhering to the scientific method. - Taken from body of text.

Includes bibliographical references.

Open access.

Justice Peter D Applegarth, 'Effective examination of expert evidence: forensic evidence in criminal proceedings', introduction given at the Current Legal Issues Seminar 1, Banco Court, Brisbane, 10 June 2021.

1 online resource (7 pages) : PDF, 267.66 KB