The adversarial system is the two-sided structure under which criminal trial courts operate, putting the prosecution against the defense.
[6] The rules of evidence are developed based upon the system of objections of adversaries and on what basis it may tend to prejudice the trier of fact which may be the judge or the jury.
A frustrated judge in an English (adversarial) court finally asked a barrister after witnesses had produced conflicting accounts, "Am I never to hear the truth?"
Judges in an adversarial system are impartial in ensuring the fair play of due process, or fundamental justice.
In some adversarial legislative systems, the court is permitted to make inferences on an accused's failure to face cross-examination or to answer a particular question.
This is not the case, and both modern adversarial and inquisitorial systems have the powers of the state separated between a prosecutor and the judge and allow the defendant the right to counsel.
Indeed, the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in Article 6 requires these features in the legal systems of its signatory states.
In an adversarial system, there is no more controversy and the case proceeds to sentencing; though in many jurisdictions the defendant must have allocution of her or his crime; an obviously false confession will not be accepted even in common law courts.