That the quest for facts is the driving force of our common law distinguishing it from the rest of the world's city (civil) law cannot be over-stressed.

Once the Jury discerns the kind of relationship between the parties before the court, this relationship kind renders up the body of law to be applied, and then all the Jury need to decide are the remaining facts of the case:

What happened?

How'd it happen?

Why'd it happen?

When'd it happen?

Where'd it happen?

Who done it?

Who's at fault?

—Brent Allan Winters.

The will of the state is the driving force of the civil law. The controlling question in civil-law countries now covering almost the entire globe is, what does the state  command by its code? In a common-law country such as ours, the troublesome problem confronting the court and jury, says Stryker, is not so much what the law is, but what happened: did the defendant steal? Did he assault? Did he commit arson? Did he kill, and under what circumstances? —Brent Allan Winters