NOT EVIDENCE.
Witnesses Invited to Give Opinions. JUDGE BLAIR'S COMMENT. The practice of admitting a witness’s opinion as evidence was commented on in a judgment given by his Honor Mr Justice Blair and released this morning. Referring to the evidence of the plaintiff, the judgment stated: — “ She said in cross-examination that the accident was due solely to Wilks’s negligence and the fast pace of his car, and that Wilks had the last opportunity of avoiding the accident. “ In passing it must be observed that evidence of that kind which is commonly admitted in motor cases is not the kind of evidence that should be admitted. The witness is really invited to usurp the function of the Court. A witness has no right to say that the accident was caused by the negligence of one or other of the parties, or that one or other of the parties had the last opportunity. Those matters are peculiarly the duty of the Court to decide. All the witness should be asked to do is to give the facts, not the witness’s conclusions or deductions from the facts as he or she believes them to be. Several of the matters touched upon in cross-examination of the plaintiff were not facts, but mere deductions from the facts or alleged facts and as such not evidence at all.
“In further cross-examination by counsel for Wilks plaintiff first expressed the opinion that both Morgan and Wilks ‘ were as much to blame as each other.’ Then she said Wilks was more negligent than Morgan. Later she says, ‘ I think that Mr Morgan has just as much right to pay me the amount I claim as Mr Wilks if Morgan is guilty of negligence. In my opinion Wilks is the man who should pay' me this money. The reason lam suing Morgan is that he was found guilty of contributory negligence in an action against Wilks.’ “ Most of the above evidence deserves the same strictures as already given. It is not evidence at all, but mere matter of opinion by a person not entitled to or qualified to give an opinion.’ _________________
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19330801.2.117
Bibliographic details
Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 829, 1 August 1933, Page 7
Word Count
352NOT EVIDENCE. Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 829, 1 August 1933, Page 7
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