Legal syllogism
Legal syllogism is a legal concept concerning the law and its application, specifically a form of argument based on deductive reasoning and seeking to establish whether a specified act is lawful.[1]
A syllogism is a form of logical reasoning that hinges on a question, a major premise, a minor premise and a conclusion. If properly plead, every legal action seeking redress of a wrong or enforcement of a right is "a syllogism of which the major premise is the proposition of law involved, the minor premise is the proposition of fact, and the judgment the conclusion."[2][3] More broadly, many sources suggest that every good legal argument is cast in the form of a syllogism.[3][4][5]
Fundamentally, the syllogism may be reduced to a three step process: 1. "
In legal theoretic literature, legal syllogism is controversial. It is treated as equivalent to an “interpretational decision.”[6]
See also
- Syllogism
- Case-based reasoning
- Deductive reasoning
- Type of syllogism (disjunctive, hypothetical, legal, poly-, prosleptic, quasi-, statistical)
References
- ISBN 9781501728617.
- ^ Lamphear v. Buckingham, 33 Conn. 237, 248 (Conn. 1866).
- ^ ISBN 9781139504898.
- ISBN 9781422418208.
- ISBN 9780199571246.
- ISBN 9781402049392.