IRMA ADAWI Section B

Legal Technique and Logic

LOGIC IN THE WORLD OF LAW Susan Hacks work logic in the law speaks about the contradicting views of Holmes and Dean Langdells work about logics role in the law. In conclusion, Hack sided with Holmes. The evidence? The title of her report alone: Logic in the law: Something but not All. I like what Dean Langdell had said. Quoting him, if law were not a science (logic), there could be no justification for making it an academic subject of university teaching. Law, to be applied in its most applicable means, needs correct line of reasoning. I am not really a fan of logic, but neither was I an opponent of its role in the law. For how can a legislator argue that the bill he is campaigning for is necessary in their district if he will not be able to reason out its importance? Surely, he would need his premises in order to come up with his conclusion. Unbiased by the way how Holmes or Langdell or even Hack presented their arguments on logics role in law, I would maintain my original stand point on its being-in-it with the law. Law cannot survive without logic and it would be a chaotic legal system to think it otherwise. Holmes, on the other hand, stated that the life of the law has not been logic, it has been experience. Yes, I believe that laws have been given life by experiences but to think that as an absolute idea is a different thing. Our laws may be cultivated by experiences. However, to tie up with the past? It is not a good thing. Remember that laws are made to adapt with the changing needs of the people over time. One presumption on law is the presumption against irrepealable laws. Present laws may be applicable today but not tomorrow. Going on with Langdells claim of law as science of logic being it the reason why law is being taught in universities. Ones logic or correct reasoning is to be enhanced in order to be good in the application of law. To say that learning law because we just learn it from experiences would be absurd. I still believe in the formal education of law. Unless somebody gives me a reasonable reason to prove it otherwise, I believe that law is logic.