Changes in American court advocacy during the long nineteenth century: Classical influences, their decline, similarities and comparisons with England and Wales

© 2020, STS Science Centre Ltd. All rights reserved. Important alterations in the style and content of court advocacy occurred throughout the common law world in the Nineteenth Century. This article turns to the United States, where a sea change in advocacy took place, and to similarities and differences with England and Wales. Matters considered include: influences of Greek and Roman classics and rhetoric in late Eighteenth Century and first half of the Nineteenth Century America and their decline thereafter; key changes in evidence and procedure; discussion whether advocates should be allowed to express belief in the causes of their clients and later adoption of professional rules forbidding the practice; granting accused persons the right to give evidence on oath; the presence of expert witnesses in court; the introduction of plea bargaining procedure and the origins of bench trials.