以上兩單詞在訴訟法中均有讓對方知曉證據(jù)的含義。discovery (“證據(jù)開示”）（等同documentary discovery)主要適用民事訴訟程序，其具有強制性，為法院主持進(jìn)行，主要形式包括: interrogatories (書面詢問對方當(dāng)事人）、depositions (書面詰問證人）、requests for admissions (事實確認(rèn)請求）以及 requests for production (出示證據(jù)請求）[1]。disclosure ( “證據(jù)披露”）過去多用于刑事案件，由控方向被告方展示某些情況，特定情況下被告方也會向控方披露情況，此種披露多不帶強制性；但如控方所占有的證據(jù)能幫助被告人進(jìn)行辯護，根據(jù)正當(dāng)程序規(guī)則， 該證據(jù)必須向被告方披露。在當(dāng)今的民事程序改革浪潮中，英國大法官（Lord Woolf)在其“司法審判參與權(quán)”（Access to Justice) 報告中建議在民事訴訟程序中用disclosure替換discovery, 以避免無限制地要求證據(jù)開示而導(dǎo)致訴訟的拖延?？傮w說來, 民事訴訟中的disclosure應(yīng)比其在刑事訴訟中的原含義更具強制性，披露的事項由法律規(guī)定而不是象證據(jù)開示那樣由當(dāng)事人隨 意要求[2]。
 
[1] " The compulsory disclosure，at a party's request，of information that relates to the litigation. ”Cf. Bryan A. Gamer, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th edition, at p. 468, West Group (1999).
[2]“In some jurisdictions discovery is usually referred to as disclosure, which is just the same thing from the point of view of the giver of the information rather than the receiver. ”Cf. James E. Clapp, Random House Webster's Dictionary of the Law, at p. 140，Random House (2000).