Final Exam Study Guide: Introduction to Legal Reasoning

These flashcards cover key vocabulary and concepts from the Introduction to Legal Reasoning lecture notes to help prepare for the final exam.

Natural Law

Law that is inherently connected to morality and reason; unjust laws may fail to count as law.

Legal Positivism

The view that law is a social fact whose validity depends on its source rather than morality.

Separability Thesis

The claim that legal validity does not depend on moral correctness.

Sovereign

A determinate human superior habitually obeyed by the bulk of society.

Sanction

A threat of punishment attached to noncompliance with a command.

Primary Rules

Rules governing conduct, like traffic laws and criminal prohibitions.

Secondary Rules

Rules about rules, detailing how primary rules are created, changed, and adjudicated.

Rule of Recognition

The social rule used by officials to identify valid legal norms.

Fuller’s Internal Morality of Law

Procedural principles required for legality, including generality, publicity, and clarity.

Cicero's Definition of Law

Law defined as 'right reason in agreement with nature'.

Legal Realism

The belief that judicial decisions are influenced by social and political factors; law is what officials do.

Critical Legal Studies (CLS)

The perspective that law reflects power relations and ideology while claiming objectivity.

Core Case

A clear and obvious application of a rule.

Penumbral Case

A borderline case requiring interpretation.

Formalism

Strict adherence to legal texts and application of rules.

Purposivism

Interpretation guided by legislative purpose or spirit.

Horizontal Precedent

Courts follow their own prior decisions.

Ratio Decidendi

The reasoning necessary to a court’s decision, making up the binding component of precedent.

Overruling

To explicitly reject and replace prior precedent.

Mandatory Authority

Authority that must be followed, such as Supreme Court decisions.

Analogy

An argument based on similarity between a past case and a present case.

Incrementalism

The gradual development of law through individual disputes.

Equity

A corrective mechanism addressing rigid rule applications.

Burden of Proof

The threshold of certainty required to reach a conclusion.

Precedent

Following prior judicial decisions due to their authoritative status.