ABSTRACT
It is important to note at the outset that no single system of justice is purely adversarial or purely inquisitorial in nature. Most systems of justice are rooted in one or other of the traditions, but have developed or adopted different procedures in response to local problems or pressures. As Tulkens (1995: 8) notes, ‘nowhere is the model any longer pure; it is, for better or worse, contorted, attenuated, modified. As a system adds, superimposes or eliminates certain features, one can now only say that it reflects a “dominant model” ’. Furthermore, in the European Union, the developing jurisprudence in European law spanning both traditions, have led some commentators to believe that convergence is inevitable, an issue which is explored further below. Nevertheless, legal systems and methods of procedure are still frequently characterised by reference to inquisitorial and adversarial models and remain a useful framework for analysis.
