In business, the buyer, the head of the department, the board of directors, constitute the judges who render the decision.  In legislative assemblies the audience and judges are practically identical, for after the debate upon a measure is concluded, those who have listened to it render individual verdicts by casting their votes.  In such cases we frequently see decisions rendered not upon the merits of the debate, but according to class prejudice, personal opinion, or party lines.  This is why so many great argumentative speeches were accounted failures at the time of their delivery.  Delivered to secure majority votes they failed to carry conviction to the point of changing immediate action, and so in the small temporary sense they were failures.  In legal trials the jury is the real judge, although by our peculiar misapplication of the term a different person entirely is called judge.  In court the judge is in reality more often merely the presiding officer.  He oversees the observance of all the rules of court practice, keeps lawyers within the regulations, instructs the jury, receives the decision from them, and then applies the law.  Every lawyer speaks—­not to convince the judge—­but to convince the jury to render a decision in his favor.

Scholastic Debating.  Choosing the Proposition.  In school debating the proposition may be assigned by the instructor or it may be chosen by him from a number submitted by the class.  The class itself may choose by vote a proposition for debate.  In interscholastic debating the practice now usually followed is for one school to submit the proposition and for the second school to decide which side it prefers to support.  In any method the aim should be to give neither side any advantage over the other.  The speakers upon the team may be selected before the question of debate is known.  It seems better, when possible, to make the subject known first and then secure as speakers upon both sides, students who have actual beliefs upon the topic.  Such personal conviction always results in keener rivalry.

Time Limits.  Since no debate of this kind must last too long, time restrictions must be agreed upon.  In every class, conditions will determine these terms.  Three or four speakers upon each side make a good team.  If each is allowed six minutes the debate should come well within an hour and still allow some time for voting upon the presentations.  It should be distinctly understood that a time limit upon a speaker must be observed by him or be enforced by the presiding officer.

The speakers upon one side will arrange among themselves the order in which they will speak but there should be a clear understanding beforehand as to whether rebuttal speeches are to be allowed.