{"id":7846,"date":"2020-10-20T16:33:23","date_gmt":"2020-10-20T08:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alexchanglaw.com\/?p=7846"},"modified":"2021-06-22T14:24:49","modified_gmt":"2021-06-22T06:24:49","slug":"debate-vs-submission-in-court-ting-bee-ren","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alexchanglaw.com\/index.php\/debate-vs-submission-in-court-ting-bee-ren\/","title":{"rendered":"Debate VS submission in Court"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/alexchanglaw.com\/index.php\/pendebatan-hujahan-mahkamah\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Versi Bahasa<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/alexchanglaw.com\/index.php\/debate-submission-court-chinese\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u4e2d\u6587\u7248<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What\u2019s the difference?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What is debate?<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n[1] According to the Oxford English Dictionary, debate is \u201ca formal discussion on a particular matter in a public meeting or legislative assembly, in which opposing arguments are put forward and which usually ends with a vote.\u201d A debate is often conducted with a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Discussion_moderator\">moderator<\/a>&nbsp;and an audience, in addition to the debate participants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n[2] Logical consistency, factual accuracy\nand some degree of emotional appeal to the audience are elements in debating. A\ndebate can be in the form of formal direct oral\ncontest or competition in argumentation between two or more people on a defined\nproposition at a specific time. Overall,\ndebates are very common in social, political, and educational environments and\nthe topics addressed in a debate can be virtually anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What is submission in court?<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n[3] Submission in court on the other hand, involves adducing evidence, cross examination, presentation of written submission. The court proceedings of submissions in lower courts are different from the submissions in higher courts to certain extend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n[4] A trial conducted in the lower courts, such as the magistrate courts or the sessions courts, judges (in some countries, trials may be listened by juries) have to decide which facts are true based on the evidence adduced and apply the law which the facts of the case can fit in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n[5] In a hearing in higher Court, the\njudges are focused solely on the application of the law to the founded facts.\nThe analyse of problems, research of relevant law and presentation of arguments\nare what will be showing in higher court hearings. Usually, there will be a\nquestion of law for a case to be heard in higher Courts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The FORMAT<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Competitive debate is\npresented in front of public.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n[6] Audience of debate\nare from all walks of lives. One of the qualities of well-trained debaters is\nto \u2018win\u2019 the attention and applause of audience. Sometimes, the debate judges\ndo not have any debate experience, they are appointed as debate judges because\nthe competition organizer wants the debaters to be able to convince not only\nother debaters but also an ordinary person. Therefore, when your arguments are\ntoo profound, it might confuse the audience. Therefore, the debaters are\ntrained to pick the audience-friendly arguments over those very strong points. <\/p>\n\n\n\n[7] Not only the\narguments are audience-friendly, they will also pay attention to the way of\ndeveloping their speech so that it enables the audience to follow them. The\ndebaters do not care whether their arguments are irrefutable or not, they want\nthe effect of deep impression from the audience. Debaters are all very good\nspeakers, as they know how to write their speech to make it more attractive and\nto ensure the emotional participation of audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Submission in court is heard\nby judges or juries.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n[8] unlike the debate audience, the background of judges and juries are less diverse. Judges are from legal backgrounds while even if the juries are chosen from the public, they would have undergone specific trainings before they are fit to sit in the trial where a judge will be there to assist them in the application of laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n[9] What causes a \u2018win\u2019 in debate, is very different from a \u2018win\u2019 with a trial judge or jury. There is no point or need for fancy speeches as the judges are most definitely more experienced, no emotions can be involved when passing a judgement. The counsel, in contrast to the debaters, have to choose their arguments carefully and use facts which will assist their case, emphasizing reasons and evidence as the \u2018logos\u2019 of argumentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n[10] Unlike the debate, the courts are bound by higher court judgments. Whereby judges in lower courts are not allowed to overrule the judgments\/ decisions made by the courts above, thus they are required to make decisions established by previous case laws. Even if they personally do not agree with the grounds of the said decision. In court submissions, what a judge think is not that important, the counsel\u2019s duty is to tell the judges how to give the judgment based on the law and the precedents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The STYLE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Debate is marked by\npoints.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n[11] Most of the debaters\nhave rapid-fire speaking skill, they are trained to speak in a hyperventilating\nstyle in order to put in as many points as possible. It is because they think\nthat the more arguments they raise, the more marks they gain. And this is true\nin competitive debate because when they break their arguments into pieces, they\ncan simply drop out one when they notice that it does not do much for their\ntactic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n[12] Debaters never\nexpect to carry all of their arguments to conclusion. Instead, they \u201cspread\u201d out\ntheir opponents by offering a large quantity of arguments and then selecting\njust a few toward the end depend on how their adversary responds. This allows a\nbigger flexibility for them to change their tactic in the middle of debate.\nAlso, it will not cause great harm to them as it does not affect the completion\nof their debating and the audience might not even notice it, at least an\nuntrained audience won\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n[13] Part of the reasons\nwhy they do so is the rules of competitive debate. Often, the debaters are\ntimed when they speak so they sometimes do not manage to finish their arguments\nwhen time is up. Hence, to include more points within the same time limit given\nis also an important skill for debaters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n[14] Debate training tend\nto set aside the truth, to give way to a more complete and safer strategy. If\nthat is the goal, then a bad argument can be just as useful as a good one. As\nwhat is stated above, debate is like a show to the public hence no one will\nquestion the truth of your speech. As long as the thing is not too ridiculous until\npeople can notice it without hesitation, then it is fine. Even though doubt can\nbe raised by the opponent, the debaters are not required to prove to them all\nwith evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>No marking criteria for\ncourt submission. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n[15] Debate experienced attorneys, Fulkerson and Lots note that trial lawyers whom were previously debaters were often told at some point to slow down their speech and to adapt to their audience. As clarity of one&#8217;s argument is more important in a lawyer\u2019s submission. A lawyer has to ensure that the judges or jury are with them and that they are clear with whatever arguments they raise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n[16] There is no need to\ninclude bundle of points as quality beats quantity in submission in court. This\nmeans that a case with just two strong arguments may well be better than a case\nwith three strong arguments along with two weak ones. The judges do not need a\nlot of arguments which are irrelevant or insignificant to the case, they only\nneed one point which is decisive and clearly tells them what approach should address\nto the issues of the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n[17] Every argument made\nin court takes a toll on the counsel\u2019s persuasive target\u2019s attention,\nrecollection and attitude. The author of \u201cIn the trial advocacy world\u201d noted,\n\u201cVery low probability arguments are invariably cast aside for the more bread\nand butter discussions that are central to a case.\u201d. The lawyers have the same\nneed to be selective, but unlike the debaters, they must make the most\nimportant choices before, rather than during the trial. <\/p>\n\n\n\n[18] In the court,\n\u201cevidence\u201d is very important. The counsel can only raise facts which they can\nprove. The judges can and often ask for evidence for statements of the counsel\nand if they fail to prove to the court, it will be struck out. Therefore, when\npreparing for court submission, the counsel not only have to think of the\narguments but also how to prove to the court by adducing relevant evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Debate Happens between\ndebaters only.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n[19] In competitive\ndebate, the judges cannot question the debaters. The rules of debates are\ndesigned to let the debaters to have full control of the situation. This is\nregarded fair as both parties have the same opportunities to speak, question\nand rebut. It is totally up to the debaters what questions they want to ask,\nwhat arguments they want to put forward and so on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n[20] The participation of\njudges or third party in a competitive debate might affect their performance.\nThe third-party statement might not be neutral, he\/she might be supporter of\neither side and even the question from a judge can be helping one side to\ndevelop their point out of kindness. Thus, the questions from third parties are\nnot allowed in a competitive debate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n[21] The judges and audience\ncan only listen to the debater\u2019s speech and if one team is obviously not as\ngood as its opponents, then they can probably be led by their opponents to\nissues that are not favoring their side and have no chance to develop their\ngood points. While in debate, this happens all the time especially when the\ndebaters are lack of experience. Debaters can simply lose the competition\nbecause they fail to address their arguments properly in the debate and the\naudience and judges do not have access to their arguments in advance or at any\npoint during and after the debate, so their performance during the debate is\neverything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Judges can question the\nlawyers in court submission.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n[22] The character of\njudges in court are different with those in debate, Judge Marvin E. Frankel\ndescribed the traditional conception of judge\u2019s role as \u201cthe neutral,\nimpartial, clam, noncontentious umpire standing between the adversary parties,\nseeing that they observe the rules of the adversary game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n[23] The purpose of\nhaving judges involve in the trial is to assure the justice during every stage\nof the litigation, therefore their power to ask the counsel question is\nimportant in order to promote their judicial role. They are not only engaged in\nthe hearings; they will have to urge the counsel to get their work done\nproperly before the trial. Judges would have already read the submissions by\nboth parties in word form before the trial started so that they can make sure\nthemselves to be fully understood to the case. Nothing surprising should be\ntaking place during the trials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n[24] It is important for\njudges to ensure that the controversies will be litigated in a manner\nappropriate to what is truly at issue and as justly and speedily as possible.\nHearing in court is not an easy task, the judge must be fair and dig into\nunderdeveloped arguments and the facts that are hidden behind by the counsel\u2019s\ntactical roadblocks at the same time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n[25] The differences between debates and submission in court are mostly the difference in purpose. Debates are usually used to train students\u2019 speaking skills, shape the way they think and learn the arts of convincing. There is no right or wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n[26] However, in court submission, the role of the judiciary is to ascertain and decide both public and private rights, to administer justice, to punish crimes and to protect the innocent from injury and usurpation. The judges, to urge this goal, will have to do a lot more compared with a debate judge. They need to be equipped with sufficient legal knowledge which enables them to apply facts to legal rules and interpret those as best as they can. <\/p>\n\n\n\n[27] The counsels of course, have much bigger responsibilities compared to a common debater, they are there to assist the judge to give judgment, it is a more loaded task and therefore clearance and effective communication between judges and counsel are paramount important. <\/p>\n\n\n\n[28]  There is a great difference between them, from its preparation stage to the outcomes. Nonetheless, a platform which allows students to debate are very good starting points and are great preparation for \u201cfuture lawyers\u201d as it develops many general skills such as the ability to read understand and properly interpret the information given, to \u2018turn\u2019 an opponent\u2019s evidence and arguments in one\u2019s favour and to analyse primary and secondary source research. It is not surprising that many former debaters become successful advocacy lawyers at the end of the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ting Bee Ren<br>University of Leeds  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/alexchanglaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Ting-Bee-Ren-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7768\" width=\"253\" height=\"253\"\/><figcaption>Ting Bee Ren<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Versi Bahasa \u4e2d\u6587\u7248 What\u2019s the difference? What is debate? [1] According to the Oxford English Dictionary, debate is \u201ca formal discussion on a particular matter in a public meeting or legislative assembly, in which opposing arguments are put forward and which usually ends with a vote.\u201d A debate is often conducted with a&nbsp;moderator&nbsp;and an audience, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[67,69],"tags":[84,106],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexchanglaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7846"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexchanglaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexchanglaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexchanglaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1805"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexchanglaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7846"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/alexchanglaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9963,"href":"https:\/\/alexchanglaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7846\/revisions\/9963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexchanglaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexchanglaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexchanglaw.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}