Court-appointed assessors: shadows in the world of fact determination? (Pt 2)

• In ‘Judicial notice: shadows in the world of fact determination (Pt 1)’ (NLJ, 9 February 2024, p13), Ian Gascoigne considered the usefulness of judicial notice as a shortcut, and examined its limited application.
• Here in Pt 2 of the two-part series, he discusses the role of court-appointed assessors in the civil court system, determining whether they genuinely help fact determination or undermine transparency

In resolving factual conflicts between parties in a civil case, the trial judge will evaluate the evidence and decide, on the balance of probabilities, which side has offered the more likely version.

What if the judge does not fully understand technical aspects of the evidence, parts that are critical to the decision? In many cases, expert evidence will be called, and the expert(s) can explain technical processes. Expert evidence is not permitted, however, in each case in which there are aspects outside a judge’s