The Rationale for Motions in the Design of Adjudication

The conduct of adjudication is often influenced by motions—requests made by litigants to modify the course of adjudication. The question studied in this article is why adjudication should be designed so as to permit the use of motions. The answer developed is that litigants will naturally know a great deal about their specific matter, whereas a court will ordinarily know little except to the degre…