Victorian Current Acts Victorian Current ActsEvidence of an opinion is not admissible to prove the existence of a fact about the existence of which the opinion was expressed.
Notes
1 The Commonwealth Act and New South Wales Act include an additional subsection.
2 Specific exceptions to the opinion rule are as follows—
• summaries of voluminous or complex documents (section 50(3))
• evidence relevant otherwise than as opinion evidence (section 77)
• lay opinion (section 78)
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander traditional laws and customs (section 78A)
• expert opinion (section 79)
• admissions (section 81)
• exceptions to the rule excluding evidence of judgments and convictions (section 92(3))
• character of and expert opinion about an accused (sections 110 and 111).
Other provisions of this Act, or of other laws, may operate as further exceptions.
Examples
1 P sues D, her doctor, for the negligent performance of a surgical operation. Unless an exception to the opinion rule applies, P's neighbour, W, who had the same operation, cannot give evidence of his opinion that D had not performed the operation as well as his own.
2 P considers that electrical work that D, an electrician, has done for her is unsatisfactory. Unless an exception to the opinion rule applies, P cannot give evidence of her opinion that D does not have the necessary skills to do electrical work.