Expert Evidence: Law and Procedure

by Tristram Hodgkinson and Mark James

published by Sweet and Maxwell

Reviewed by Aidan Ellis

When Lord Justice Brooke announces that “in my last years on the Bench we heard at least three civil appeals in which access to a book of this quality would have helped us to identify the solution far more rapidly than we did”, it is time for the rest of us to sit up and take note. Here is a book which tackles the broad subject of expert evidence with admirable precision and attention to detail.

Expert Evidence: Law and Procedure begins with a useful and succinct section on the principles and history of expert evidence. Then it plunges into the detailed law regarding admissibility of expert evidence as well as the procedural aspect of calling expert evidence at trial. Both criminal and civil law are covered.

The section on immunity is particularly interesting. This topic has been hotly debated in the news recently following the evidence given by Meadows in cot death cases. The authors set out the current legal position: in short experts enjoy immunity from suit apart from in certain limited circumstances. This does not satisfy the authors: they argue forcefully that experts’ immunity from negligence actions brought by former clients should be removed. They argue that the general principle must be that every wrong has a remedy and immunities should be granted sparingly. Further the arguments in favour of immunity have been overstated. It will be fascinating to see how the law on this point develops in the future.  

Overall, this will not only be the leading text in its field.  It is a model to which other practitioner texts might sensibly aspire.