ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the special status of expert witness evolved in Anglo-American common law traditions, and then describes how expert evidence is used in asylum appeal hearings. First, however, it is necessary to explain the importance of ‘objective evidence’ to the asylum process, and the idiosyncratic legal notion of ‘objectivity’ which that term embodies. A 1987 dictum by Lord Bridge in Bugdaycay is frequently cited by lawyers representing asylum applicants, to remind the court that the outcome of a wrong decision may be extremely serious:
The most fundamental of all human rights is the individual’s right to life and when an administrative decision . . . may put the applicant’s life at risk, the basis of the decision must surely call for the most anxious scrutiny.
