Witness Immunity
Definition
A common-law protection that historically shielded expert witnesses from civil liability for statements made in judicial proceedings. In England and Wales it was significantly narrowed by the Supreme Court in Jones v Kaney (2011), which held that experts retained by a party are no longer immune from negligence suits.
- Legal basis
- Common-law protection
- Historical scope
- Shielded expert witnesses from civil liability for testimony
- Landmark case
- Jones v Kaney (2011), Supreme Court, England and Wales
- Effect of the ruling
- Party-retained experts no longer immune from negligence suits
Common questions
What was the reasoning behind removing witness immunity for experts in Jones v Kaney?+
The court concluded that the policy reasons for immunity, protecting witnesses from harassment and encouraging candid testimony, applied less strongly to experts retained and paid by a party than to lay witnesses, and that removing immunity would better hold experts accountable for negligent work.
Does witness immunity still apply to anyone after Jones v Kaney?+
Yes, the core immunity for testimony given in court, protecting witnesses generally from being sued over what they say in the witness box, remains; the ruling specifically removed the additional shield that had let a party's own retained expert avoid negligence claims over the underlying work.
Related terms
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- The influence of case-relevant background information (suspect financial difficulties, police intelligence) on the direction of an examiner's technical analysis. Demonstrated experimentally for...
- Duty of Impartiality
- The obligation that an expert witness owes to the court rather than to the party that retained them. Codified in England and...
- Fabrication of Evidence
- The deliberate creation of false scientific results or the falsification of existing results for use in legal proceedings. It is the most...
- Sequential Unmasking
- An information-sequencing protocol in which the examiner receives the questioned material first, completes and documents the analysis before receiving the known standards,...
- Wrongful Conviction Review
- A post-conviction process in which a court, review commission, or independent body re-examines the evidence supporting a conviction. In England and Wales...