Two sides of a coin.
The Malaysian legal system is based on the common law system which
almost invariably employs the adversarial system. This is where two sides
present their best cases to a neutral referee who will usually decide in favor
of the side with the better case. It is by this system that the Malaysian law,
and generally the common law, is profoundly developed.
Thus the Latin maxim of Audi Alteram Partem, “hear the other
side too”, is a principle of fundamental justice in the common law legal system
(and also, in most other legal systems).
Invariably, lawyers, jurists and even judges are forged by
this system with the ingenuity of presenting diametrically opposed arguments
for almost any given set of facts or law. And thus, altera parte, Two sides of
a coin.
