Problems of Forensic Sciences 2016 Vol. 106 (CVI) 456-473
ASSESSMENT OF EXPERT EVIDENCE IN POLISH COURT PROCEEDINGS IN COMPARISON TO OTHER EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
Joanna DZIERŻANOWSKA, Joanna STUDZIŃSKA
Faculty of Law, The John Paul II Catholic University, Lublin, Poland
Streszczenie
Expert opinion is an important piece of evidence due to the explanation of special knowledge to the court. The court, having no special knowledge, is obliged to carry out substantive assessment of such evidence, not limited solely to a comparison of the expert opinion with the total evidence gathered in the case. In order to simplify such assessment, there should be standards setting out the method of assessing this evidence. In Poland, however, one approach in jurisdiction which would set out criteria for recognition of this evidence as scientific proof is absent. This topic was chosen because of the lack of sufficient studies on the assessment of expert evidence in court proceedings and is an attempt to create the basic criteria for this evaluation. The study will try to extract grounds for a proper assessment of expert evidence, based on existing legislation and jurisprudence of the Supreme Court (due to the authority of the Court and the impact of its decisions on other courts), and courts of appeal. The study also includes considerations regarding the internal regulations of six selected European countries, such as England (representative of common law), the Netherlands, France, Germany, Bulgaria and the Czechia (representatives of the continental process). This selection will show the variety of standards of the assessment of expert opinions. It shall pointed out that in the continental system, which is based on the principle of free assessment of evidence, there is no list of generalized criteria, contrary to an Anglo-Saxon system, that would be the subjects to a holistic consideration of the assessment of an expert opinion by a judicial body. This is the most important practical use of the conclusions of this elaboration.
Słowa kluczowe
Scientific evidence; Expert report; Assessment of expert evidence; Private opinion; Unification of the testing procedures.