Expert evidence and the Court of Arbitration for sport: a question of weight

[Extract] A feature of the common law is that it does not allow witnesses to express opinions, but only give testimonial evidence relating to what they have perceived with their five senses. There is one major exception, namely expert witnesses, who can express opinions on matters in which they are considered to be experts, with such expertise arising from training, study or from experience. An admissibility issue may arise, however, in regard to whether a person has sufficient expertise, or whether the evidence falls within an accepted area of expertise. Many sport cases today, however, are now resolved by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), rather than the courts, and in D'Arcy v Australian Olympic Committee it was stated by CAS that it does not have to comply with the rules of evidence. \ud \ud What this paper will therefore examine is how CAS has used expert evidence in a its cases, and whether this use is consistent with common law courts use of expert witnesses. First, however, a brief overview will be given in regard to how the general courts have used expert evidence