Scope of Section 45 of Evidence Act 1950: The Need For Revision

Expert opinion is a popular form of evidence in court. Expert evidence is significant in helping the court to make the right decision about an issue that is beyond the common knowledge and experience of a judge. Generally, expert opinion is tendered in the Malaysian courts by virtue of section 45 of the Evidence Act 1950. Pursuant to section 45, only the categories of experts mentioned in the provision may be called to give expert opinion. The question is how far are the categories of experts in section 45 of the Evidence Act 1950 comprehensive to cover all types of experts? This article aims at evaluating the scope of section 45 of the Evidence Act 1950 as well as compares its position with other jurisdictions i.e. India and Singapore. This article found that the scope of section 45 of the Evidence Act 1950 is not comprehensive in regulating all categories of experts who may be called to assist a case because of its scope limited to some categories only. Therefore, this article proposes that the provisions of section 45 of the Evidence Act 1950 need to be reviewed so that its scope is expanded to encompass broad categories of experts.