Volume 1

The principles and practice of medical jurisprudence / by Alfred Swaine Taylor.

Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The principles and practice of medical jurisprudence / by Alfred Swaine Taylor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    are presumed to be able to guide the Court to a proper understanding of the facts of the case. In questions of legitimacy or divorce, obstetricians of high standing are consulted on both sides; in questions affecting the sanity of persons, those who have acquired a reputation in the treatment or observation of the insane are selected; in the various obscure injuries resulting from railway accidents, surgeons of repute,—and in questions of life-insurance, physicians of high standing are summoned as experts to give the results of their experience. There are many of these cases, in- cluding some in criminal law, which could not possibly be settled without this collateral aid—the questions at issue not being based on matters of fact occurring within the ordinary range of practice, so much as on an enlarged experience of a particular department. There is, however, a strong public feeling against the admission of the testimony of experts. One able writer remarks:—'It is impossible to shut out such evidence altogether, but there is nothing which brings more discredit upon the administration of justice. There is one consequence of its admission which is common to all cases in which it occurs: it is, that no difl&culty has ever been found in obtaining any amount of evidence of this description, on either side of any point at issue. There is a contest as to whether a vitriol or a gas manu- factory is a nuisance. Twenty chemists of fair character and scientific acquirements come forward to swear that the eflBuvia evolved by these pro- cesses are producing the most deadly fevers, and twenty others, equally eminent, will give just as positive testimony that the gases are absolutely wholesome, and rather fattening than otherwise. These things are of everyday experience.' There is here some use of exaggerated language. It will frequently be the duty of a medical expert, in civil as well as in criminal cases, and in all actions for malapraxis, to pass an opinion on the practice of another professional man. On such occasions, while there should be no suppression of the truth, a witness is bound, in answering questions put to him by counsel, to state his opinion and the grounds on which it is based clearly and distinctly. It may be hard to condemn a brother-practitioner, but it would be still harder to ignore the public interest, and condemn ourselves and our profession by concealing that which we know to be true, or by suppressing what we honestly believe. There is no etiquette in the profession which demands such a sacrifice of principle as this conduct involves. A medical witness is not bound to be forward in pointing out and suggesting defects, or in endeavouring to lower another practitioner in the opinion of the public; but nothing should be concealed which is relevant to the elucidation of the case in issue. The golden rule, ' Do unto others as you would that they should do unto vou,'should be strictly observed on these occasions. ^ , . . Certain lunacy cases, and cases of compensation for bodily injury by railway accidents, have drawn particular attention to the testimony of experts Lord Westbury in referring to experts m lunacy m the Windham case, remarked that they came forward to swear away the sanity of per- sons and when their reasons were examined it was found that persons asserted to be insane, could not answer questions which some of the witnesses themselves were also unable to answer. ' The absence of explicit statement,' said Lord Westbury, ' was abundantly made up by the flow of hard names, which no doubt had great weight with the ]ury i sbould call unsoundness of mind a mixture of chrome mama and devien. tia' said one doctor; 'speaking in popular language, I should call it a mixture of mania and fatuity occurring in a person once having a sane understanding.' Another learned physician examined the same lady, no dou^t'th g^^^^ cleverness, and thought he would try her knowledge of law He therefore asked her several questions about the Constitution,
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