The Origins of Adversary Criminal Trial

The adversary system of trial, the defining feature of the Anglo-American legal procedure, developed late in English legal history. For centuries defendants were forbidden to have legal counsel, and lawyers seldom appeared for the prosecution either. Trial was meant to be an occasion for the defendant to answer the charges in person.The transformation from lawyer-free to lawyer-dominated criminal trial happened within the space of about acentury, from the 1690's to the 1780's. This book explains how the lawyers captured the trial. In addition to conventional legal sources, Professor Langbein draws upon a rich vein of contemporarypamphlet accounts about trials in London's Old Bailey. The book also mines these novel sources to provide the first detailed account of the formation of the law of criminal evidence.Responding to menacing prosecutorial initiatives (including reward-seeking thieftakers and crown witnesses induced to testify in order to save their own necks) the judges of the 1730's decided to allow the defendant to have counsel to cross-examine accusing witnesses. By restricting counselto the work of examining and cross-examining witnesses, the judges intended that the accused would still need to respond in person to the charges against him. Professor Langbein shows how counselmanipulated the dynamics of adversary procedure to defeat the judges design, ultimately silencing the accused and transforming the very purpose of the criminal trial. Trial ceased to be an opportunity for the accused to speak, and instead became an occasion for defense counsel to test the prosecution case.

Winner of Winner of the Order of the Coif Book Award.

“'... this book consolidates and expands numerous important themes thatLangbein has done so much to develop in an exceptionally clear and systematicway. It will be essential reading for anybody who wishes to understand theprocedural dynamic that underpinned the changing face of the eighteenth centuryEnglish criminal trial.'The Cambridge Law Journal”

Review from previous edition "...an extraordinarily interesting book, based on deep research and advanced in a remarkably cogent fashion"'TLSDeeply researched, The Origins of Adversary Criminal Trial will remain the standard reference work on the history of the English criminal trial for years to come. It is a must read not only for legal historians but for every practitioner active in the criminal courts."...informative and stimulating..."'TLS... this book consolidates and expands numerous important themes that Langbein has done so much to develop in an exceptionally clear and systematic way. It will be essential reading for anybody who wishes to understand the procedural dynamic that underpinned the changing face of the eighteenth century English criminal trial.'The Cambridge Law JournalProfessor Langbein's latest book helps to complete a picture that has been built up in his previous work and enhances his reputation as a leading, if not the leading, historian of Anglo-American and European legal procedures.'British Journal of Criminology... a fascinating account of how the adversary criminal trial came about.'British Journal of Criminology... here at last is a clear, convincing and authoritative account of how the English adversary criminal system came into being. The sources are well marshalled to create a most readable text.'British Journal of Criminology... an immensely stimulating read and draws together the threads of a body of work which has helped transform our understanding of eighteenth century criminal procedure.'Law Quarterly ReviewJohn H. Langbein has written an extraordinarily interesting book, based on deep research and advanced in a remarkably cogent fashion.'H. T. Dickinson, Times Literary Supplement`... informative and stimulating.'H. T. Dickinson, Times Literary Supplement

John H. Langbein is Sterling Professor of Law and Legal History at Yale Law School. He teaches and writes in four fields: trust and estate law, pension and employee benefit law, Anglo-American and European Legal History, and Modern Comparative Law.

The adversary system of trial, the defining feature of the Anglo-American legal procedure, developed late in English legal history. For centuries defendants were forbidden to have legal counsel, and lawyers seldom appeared for the prosecution either. Trial was meant to be an occasion for the defendant to answer the charges in person.The transformation from lawyer-free to lawyer-dominated criminal trial happened within the space of about a century, from the 1690's to the 1780's. This book explains how the lawyers captured the trial. In addition to conventional legal sources, Professor Langbein draws upon a rich vein of contemporary pamphlet accounts about trials in London's Old Bailey. The book also mines these novel sources to provide the first detailed account of the formation of the law of criminal evidence.Responding to menacing prosecutorial initiatives (including reward-seeking thieftakers and crown witnesses induced to testify in order to save their own necks) the judges of the 1730's decided to allow the defendant to have counsel to cross-examine accusing witnesses. By restricting counsel to the work of examining and cross-examining witnesses, the judges intended that the accused would still need to respond in person to the charges against him. Professor Langbein shows how counsel manipulated the dynamics of adversary procedure to defeat the judges design, ultimately silencing the accused and transforming the very purpose of the criminal trial. Trial ceased to be an opportunity for the accused to speak, and instead became an occasion for defense counsel to test the prosecution case.

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