The role of a referee appointed by the Court

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to analyse the role of a referee appointed by the Maltese Courts and the recent developments in this particular field of expert evidence that once again relit the need for reform. For this reason, this thesis will analyse whether the role of a referee is still relevant nowadays. Chapter 1 commences by giving a detailed explanation on ‘who is the referee’. A brief historical analysis will also be provided on the role a referee followed by an examination on a number of duties of the referee and the different categories of expertise. This chapter will also focus on ‘what is evidence’ and ‘expert evidence’. The aim of Chapter 2 is to analyse Book Third, Title 1, Subtitle IV of the Maltese Code of Organization and Civil Procedure, a section dedicated to the role of a referee. A critical analysis of all the articles will be made and a number of Maltese judgements with regards to court appointed referees shall be explored. An analysis shall follow, in Chapter 3, on the role of court appointed referee in other foreign jurisdictions compared with the role of an ex-parte expert witness. This will help in identifying a number of areas of developments with regards to the Maltese scenario. Chapter 4 begins by discussing a recent judgement and the effectiveness of new proposed reforms, which are still not yet implemented. This thesis concludes by proposing a number of recommendations and necessary reforms, which will help in improving the field of referees in civil litigation.