> With that mentality, why have lawyers for a prosecution and defence? Just have a judge decide.. right?
...yes? That's known as the contrast between an "adversarial" and an "inquisitorial" system. The inquisitorial system is more intuitive and more widespread.
A quirk of the adversarial system as practiced by the USA is that judges have no responsibility to make correct rulings. If the law is very clear on some point, and neither party makes that observation to the court, the court is not just not required to know the law, they're not supposed to use that knowledge even if they have it.
I don't really find it surprising that most people think the job of the court should be determining "who's right?" as opposed to "who gave a better technical performance in arguing their case?".
...yes? That's known as the contrast between an "adversarial" and an "inquisitorial" system. The inquisitorial system is more intuitive and more widespread.
A quirk of the adversarial system as practiced by the USA is that judges have no responsibility to make correct rulings. If the law is very clear on some point, and neither party makes that observation to the court, the court is not just not required to know the law, they're not supposed to use that knowledge even if they have it.
I don't really find it surprising that most people think the job of the court should be determining "who's right?" as opposed to "who gave a better technical performance in arguing their case?".