accusatorial system
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 365 U.S. 534 - Rogers v. Richmond · 1961Most cited · 2,510 citing opinions
ours is an accusatorial and not an inquisitorial system—a system in which the State must establish guilt by evidence independently and freely secured and may not by coercion prove its charge against an accused out of his own mouth
How often courts cite the cases defining “accusatorial system”
Court decisions citing the 2 opinions that defined “accusatorial system” — 4,054 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 2 definitions, chronological · 1949–1961
- ORIGINAL
Under our system society carries the burden of proving its charge against the accused not out of his own mouth. It must establish its case, not by interrogation of the accused even under judicial safeguards, but by evidence independently secured through skillful investigation.