The NSW Court of Appeal held that an expert certificate tendered under s 177 of the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) is admissible as an exception to the opinion rule in s 76 without the need separately to satisfy the requirements of s 79, provided the certificate complies with s 177(1)(a)-(c), proper notice and service under ss 177(2)-(3) have been effected, and no party has served a notice under s 177(5) requiring the maker to be called. The Court held that 'adduced' in s 177(1) means 'admitted' rather than merely 'presented', drawing this conclusion from the structure of s 177(5)-(6), the deliberate use of the less stringent 'expressed to be' language in s 177(1)(c) as compared with s 79, and the facilitative purpose of the provision. The Court also held that the presumption that the same word bears the same meaning throughout a statute is weakened where the provision containing the word was added at a later stage of the drafting process.
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