Chapter 4: Legal Reasoning

Stare Decisis

________ means "letting prior cases stand as binding precedents.

write opinions

Judges decide disputes and ________ justifying their decisions in light of the prevailing legal sources (statutes, cases, scholarly commentary)

Analogies

________ are typically subject to dispute.

stare decisis

Thus, ________ does not bind a court in the United States to apply a decision of the House of Lords or a court in England to apply a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Legal reasoning

___________ is bound by a set of conventions, and these conventions are different in every legal culture.

Legal cultures

____________ differ in the way their participants read and argue from prior cases.

Lawyers

____________ argue conflicting points of view.

Judges

______________ decide disputes and write opinions justifying their decisions in light of the prevailing legal sources.