Legal Research and Writing 2.

This is a discussion Post. One of the primary characteristics of the American legal system is the adversarial nature of its approach to dispute resolution. Unlike the legal systems of some other nations, in the United States it is incumbent upon each party to gather and present its evidence and arguments to the court; the court itself serves as a neutral and generally passive arbiter. This contrasts with the "inquisitorial model” employed by other nations, where the court plays an active role in the factual investigation. This extends to determining the order in which witnesses will be called, and interrogation of the witnesses. Proponents of the inquisitorial approach to litigation contend that it is more efficient and more focused on uncovering the truth. Defenders of the adversarial system praise the premium it places on individual (party) rights and control, and suggest that its competitive approach to fact-finding is a superior means of ferreting out the truth of a matter. In

Legal Research and Writing 1
Legal Research and Writing.
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Legal Research and Writing 2
In this discussion, please consider adversarial and inquisitorial approaches to dispute resolution
and opine upon their relative strengths and weaknesses.
The strengths of the adversarial system are: the lawyers do his best for the client. The
defense seeks for every method of escape in the law, every technicality and possible means of
escape. The prosecution as well aims to close every loophole and technicalities that may grant
means to escape. The law covers the prosecution and defense equally; thus, each side gets equal
treatment (Feeley, 2017). The weaknesses of this system are; the trial and the government are a
unit since anyone who is a government employee is bound to support the government whether
the government is right or wrong, especially the lawyers — failure to comply results to the firing
of the job. The police also help the government. This makes it easy to manipulate the proceeding
process in favor of the government.
The strengths of the inquisitorial systems are: the process gets to the truth, examines all
evidence, exempts nobody, and asks questions. In this system, nobody gets special treatment, to
be it the superior in position or the inferior. The system will ask the same questions and verify
the responses based on the provision of the law (Spencer, 2016). The judge, prosecutor, police,
and investigator are different bodies in this case, and each body performs its function as
prescribed by the laws of the land. The weaknesses are, the agencies mentioned above are the
same body, and thus, the truth is readily determined. Interrogations are done for formalities;
hence, there is minimal effort to find the truth.
In conclusion, the inquisitorial system provides fair treatment to both the kings and the
slaves against the law; hence, it is the most preferred in this case.
References

Legal Research and Writing 3
Feeley, M. (2017). The adversary system. In Crime, Law and Society (pp. 105-118). Routledge.
Spencer, J. R. (2016). Adversarial vs inquisitorial systems: is there still such a difference?. The
International Journal of Human Rights, 20(5), 601-616.