Thursday, October 20, 2005

Expertise in Iceland

Editors, Justice in Iceland (Interview with Judge Tomas Magnusson), 8 Green Bag (2d Series) 393, 395 (2005):
Do you have juries?

We have no jury at all. Most cases are heard by one judge, but we can also have three judges. ... In complex civil and criminal cases there are three judges, and two of them can be specialists -- for example, plumbers, engineers, or medical doctors. These expert judges are not lawyers.

These people serve as expert witnesses?

No, they aren't expert witnesses in the American sense -- we have no expert witnesses per se. These specialists are called by the court, and they play almost the same role in the procedure as the full-time judges.