Civil proceedings
In Australia, we have adopted the "adversarial system"
for our civil proceedings. The underlying precept of this system is
that the "truth" can be arrived at by parties to the
litigation challenging and testing each other's case before the
court. Other civil jurisdictions have adopted an
"inquisitorial system" whereby the court searches for the
"truth" through conducting investigations and exercising
inquisitorial powers.
A principal feature of the adversarial system is that both the
party bringing the claim and the party defending the claim must
"reveal their case" as part of the process. This starts
with the preparation of documents recording the key material facts
relied on by the parties, which serves to define the ambit and
nature of the dispute. The process thereafter is focused on the
gathering and exchange by the parties of evidence relevant to the
dispute.
