The article is devoted to studying the history of the origin and development of adversarial principles in criminal proceedings. The evolution of the adversarial principle in the criminal process is studied in chronological order, in historical retrospective. Based on the development of legal regulations and the level of public administration, specific historical periods related to the development of the adversarial principle in criminal proceedings are distinguished. A retrospective suggests that adversarial proceedings should be taken as the basis for the organization of the entire criminal process. Only in this case, it is possible to clearly separate the functions of prosecution, defence, and resolution of criminal proceedings at all its stages and give the parties equal opportunities to provide evidence and defend their positions.