When asked the question what is the adversarial system there are many ideas and parts that need to be looked at to fully understand what it is and involves. The adversarial system of law "is the system of law, generally adopted in common law countries, that relies on the skill of the different advocates representing their party's positions and not on some neutral party, usually the judge, trying to ascertain the truth of the case" (Wikipedia, 2006). According to Zariski, (2000) the adversarial system "refers to the common law system conducting proceedings in which the parties and not the judge, have the primary responsibility for defining the issue in dispute and for investigating and advancing the dispute." For the adversarial system to work well it heavily relies upon the active participation of the jury.

An important part of the adversarial system is the role of the jury. According...