Judicial Reasoning Flashcards
What is Judicial Reasoning?
The process of reasoning when deciding a case
Law is described as a system of practical reasoning
Applying the law to the factual scenario
What is statutory interpretation?
How Judges apply the law to the facts
What are the rules of Interpretation?
Literal
Golden
Mischief
What is the Literal Rule?
Words are given their plain ordinary meaning
Literal interpretation with no room for interpretation
Why would a Judge use the Literal Rule?
To provide consistency and certainty
To ensure that Parliamentary supremacy is respected
Why would a Judge not use the Literal Rule?
It can lead to unintended consequences
Ignores the wider context of the case
What is the Golden Rule?
Allows the court to depart from the literal rule
Can be used if the literal rule would produce and absurd or unjust result
Why would a Judge use the Golden Rule?
There is a clear anomaly
Parliament could not have foreseen the anomaly
The anomaly can be remedied without affecting the legislative intent
The statutory language allows for modification
What is the Mischief Rule?
Oldest and most flexible of the rules
Allows the court to look at the law prior to statute in case of ambiguity
What considerations have to be made for the Mischief Rule?
What was the common law before the statute?
What was the defect that common law did not provide for?
What remedy did Parliament intend to use?
Why did Parliament choose that remedy?
Why would Judges use the Mischief Rule?
It provides a more logical resolution to a case
Allows for more flexibility in statute interpretation
What types of reasoning are there?
Deductive
Inductive
Analogy
What is Deductive Reasoning?
Reasoning using Syllogism
What is Syllogism?
An argument expressed using a premise and a conclusion
The conclusion is derived from the premise
What is inductive reasoning?
Drawing a general conclusion using a set of examples
Step 1 Observe The human Socrates is Greek
The human Plato is also Greek
Step 2 Collect them together based on shared characteristics
Step 3 Broad conclusion based on shared characteristics All humans are Greek
Step 4 Apply to a specific case Since all examples are Greek therefor all humans are Greek
