Reasoning with Rules: An Essay on Legal Reasoning and Its Underlying Logic

279 Pages·1997·9.71 MB·English

by  Jaap C. Hage (auth.)

REASONING WlTH RULES
Law and Philosophy Library
VOLUME27
Managing Editors
ALEKSANDERPECZENIK,DepartmentofLaw,UniversityofLund,Sweden
FREDERICKSCHAUER,lohn F.Kennedy SchoolofGovernment,
Harvard University,Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A.
FormerManagingEditors
AULIS AARNIO,MICHAELD. BAYLESt,CONRADD.JüHNSONt, ALANMABE
EditorialAdvisoryBoard
AULIS AARNIO,Research InstituteforSocial Sciences,
UniversityofTampere,Finland
ROBERTALEXY,LehrstuhlfiirOffentlichesRechtundRechtsphilosophie,
ChristianAlbrechts-Universitdt,Kiel
ERNESTOGARZÓNVALDÉS,Institutfiir Politikwissenschaft,
lohannesGutenberg UniversitätMain:
JOHN KLEINlG,Department ofLaw, PoliceScience and Criminal
lusticeAdministration, lohnlay College ofCriminal Justice,
CityUniversity ofNewYork
NICOLALACEY,BirkbeckCollege,London
NEILMacCORMICK, Centrefor Criminologyand the Social and
PhilosophicalStudyofLaw,Faculty ofLaw, UniversityofEdinburgh
NIGELSIMMONDS, CorpusChristi College, Cambridge University
ROBERTS.SUMMERS, School ofLaw, CornellUniversity
ALICEERH-SOONTAY,Faculty ofLaw, UniversityofSydney
CARLWELLMAN,DepartmentofPhilosophy,Washington University
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelisted attheendofthis volume.
JAAP C. HAGE
DepartmentofMetajuridica,
University ofMaastricht.
Maastricht. TheNetherlands
REASONING
WITHRULES
An Essay on Legal Reasoning and
lts Underlying Logic
Springer-Science+Business Media, B.Y.
AC.I.P. Cataloguerecordfor this bookisavailablefromthe LibraryofCongress
ISBN 978-90-481-4773-1 ISBN978-94-015-8873-7(eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-015-8873-7
Printed onacid-freepaper
AllRightsReserved
© 1997 SpringerScience+BusinessMediaDordrecht
OriginallypublishedbyKluwerAcademicPublishersin1997.
Softcoverreprintofthehardcover1stedition 1997
No partofthe materialprotectedbythis copyrightnoticemaybereproducedor
utilizedinany form orbyany means,electronicormechanical,
includingphotocopying,recordingor by any information storageand
retrievalsystem,withoutwrittenpermissionfromthe copyrightowner.
Te Lees and Suzanne
TABLEOF CONTENTS
PREFACE xiii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiv
I INTRODUCTION 1
1. THELEGALSYLLOGISM 1
2. THESEMANTICNOTIONOFLOGICALVALIDITY 2
3. THEDEFEASIBILITYOFREASONINGWITHRULES 3
1. DefeasibilityandModusPonens 4
2. Refonnulatingtherule 4
3. Rules asmeanstodrawconclusions 6
4. Similarityofstructure 7
5. Adaptingthepremises 8
4. OVERVIEWOFTHEBOOK 9
11 OFREASONS 11
A. PHILOSOPHICALROOTS 11
1. RAzONREASONS 11
1. Reasonsarefacts 12
2. Completereasons 12
3. Potentialreasonsandactualreasons 14
4. The strengthofreasons 15
5. Cancellingconditionsandexclusionaryreasons 15
6. Exclusionaryreasonsandmandatorynorms 19
7. SomeconclusionsaboutRaz'sanalysisofreasons 20
2. TOULMINONARGUMENTATION 22
3. NAESSONBALANCINGREASONS 24
4. INSTITUTIONALFACTS 25
1. Anscombeonbrute facts 26
2. Searleonconstitutiverules 27
3. Lawasinstitutionalfact 28
5. REASON-BASEDFACTS 30
6. INTERNALREALISM 31
7. AFINALREMARKONCONSTITUTION 34
B. ACAUSALACCOUNfOFREASONS 34
8. EXPLANATORYANDJUSTIFYINGREASONS 35
9. GLORIA'SCAR 37
10. INTERRUPTIONSOFTHECONNECTION 38
1. Kinds ofinterruption 39
2. Consequencesoftheinterruption 42
11. AoDITIONALDEMANDSONREASONS 43
1. Consciousness 43
2. Unwantedassociations 44
12. SOMECHARACTERISTICSOFREASONS 45
viii
C. REASONSANDPRINCIPLES 46
13. PERSONALREASONSANDPERSONALPRINCIPLES 46
1. Personalreasons 46
2. Personalprinciples 47
3. Personalreasonsandtbeirconsequences 48
14. SOCIALREASONSANDSOCIALRULES 49
1. Defmitions 50
2. Socialrulesandpointsofview 51
3. Therelationbetweenpersonalprinciplesandsocialrules 52
4. Theindependeneeofsocialrulesandreasons 53
5. Exclusionaryreasons,conflictingreasons,andsocialrules 54
15. rnSTITUrIONALREASONS 54
1. Institutionalfactsandinstitutionalrules 55
2. Validityandeffectivenessofinstitutionalrules 55
3. Institutionalrulesandpointsofview 56
4. Theobjectivityofinstitutionalreasons 57
5. Theintemalandtheextemalperspectiveonrules 58
16. PRINCIPLESANDREASONS 58
D. KINDSOFREASONS 59
17. CLASSIFICATORYREASONSANDRULES 61
1. Classificatoryrules 61
2. Classificationandevaluation 63
3. Thetwolevelsofconstitutivereasons 63
4. Thethreefunctionsofclassificatoryreasons 64
18. DEONTICREASONS,NORMSANDGOALS 65
1. Deonticfactsasaspeciesofreason-basedfacts 65
2. Someterminologicalissues 65
3. Normsasopposedtodeonticfacts 66
4. Goalsandnorms 67
5. Weakandstrongpennissions 68
6. Thefourfunctionsofdeonticreasons 68
7. Digression:thetrutbconditionsofdeonticsentences 70
19. ANANKASTICREASONS 70
1. Thethreefunctions ofanankasticreasons 71
2. Anankasticrulesandlawsofnature 72
20. EPISTEMICREASONSANDRULESOFINFERENCE 73
1. Thefourfunctionsofepistemicreasons 73
2. Rulesofinference 75
21. K1NosOFRULESANDPOINTSOFVIEW 75
22. SUMMARY 75
ix
m REASONINGwrnrRULES 78
1. THESTONEONTHEHll..L 79
1. Descriptionoftheexample 79
2. Twowaystocharacterise thesituation 80
3. Physical principlesandlegalprinciples 82
2. LEGALRULESANDDESCRIPTIONSOFTHELAW 82
3. THEROLEOFEPISTEMICANDCONSTITIJTIVEREASONSINARGUMENTS 85
4. THETWOSTEP-MODELSOFREASONINGWimPRlNCIPLESANDRULES 86
5. THEVALIDITYOFRULES,PRlNCIPLESANDGOALS 89
1. Points ofview 89
2. Validityoflegalrules 91
3. Validityofsocialrules 92
4. Interpretationandclassification 95
5. Principlesofinterpretation 97
6. Therecognition ofgoals 98
7. Kinds ofgoals 98
8. Goalsand principles 99
9. Goalsandsubgoals 10I
6. THECONSTITIITIONOFREASONS 101
I. Theelementary caseofreasonconstitution 101
2. Alternativeconditions 103
3. Rules with negative orincompatibleconclusions 103
4. Goals 104
5. Provingandclassifyingthefacts 105
6. Summaryoftheconstitutionofreasons 106
7. THEEXCLUSIONOFRULES 106
1. Thescopelimitationsofrules 107
2. Conflictrules 109
8. RULES,GOALSANDPRlNCIPLES 110
9. REASONSAGAINSTAPPLICATIONOFA RULE 113
10. THEDIFFERENCEBETWEENLEGALRULESANDLEGALPRlNCIPLES lIS
11. ANALOGOusAPPLICATIONOFARULE 118
12. ECONTRARIO'APPLICATION'OFARULE 121
13. DEFEASffiILITYOFREASONINGWImRULES, GOALSANDPRlNCIPLES 123
14. WEIGHINGREASONS 124
15. DEONTICCOLLAPSE,DEONTICINFLATION, ANDTHESHIFTINGBOUNDARIES 126
OFRATIONALITY
16. CONCLUSIONANDRECOMMENDATIONS 128
x
IV REASON-BASEDLOmC 130
I. STATESOFAFFAIRSANDCASES 131
2. Rm..ESANDPRINCIPLESASSlRUCTUREDLOOICALINDIVIDUALS 134
3. DERIVINGREASONSFROMPRINCIPLES 137
4. WEIGlllNGREASONS 139
5. THEAPPLICATIONOFRm..ES 141
6. THELANGUAGEOFREASON-BASEDLOGlc 144
7. Rm..ESOFINFERENCE 149
I. Areservation 149
2. Minimalentailment 149
3. Themies 150
8. VALlOCONCLUSIONS 153
I. ExtensionsofanRBL-theOI)' 153
2. Thenwnberofextensionsofatheory 155
9. THERELATIONBE'IWEENFIRSTORDERPREmcATELOOICANDREASON- 158
BASEDLooIC
V APPLICATIONSOFREASON-BASEDLOGIC 159
I. Rm..EAPPLICATION 159
I. Thetheoryanditsconclusion 159
2. Thenon-constructivenessofmieR4 160
3. Thederivationthatamie applies 161
4. Observationsonnormalmieapplication 162
2. WEIGIDNGREASONS 163
I. Anexample 163
2. Accrualofreasons 164
3. ELEMENTARYGOAL-BASEDREASONING 165
4. THEEXCLUSIONOFRm..ES 166
I. Undercuttersandthescopeofmies 166
2. Rebuttals 167
5. ADEONTICEXTENSIONOFREASON-BASEDLOOIC 169
6. LEGALRm..ES,GOALSANDPRINCIPLES 170
I. Rep1acingreasons 170
2. Example1:Theprocession 171
3. Example2:Thetransferofthe stolenbook 174
7. ACOMPLEXCASEOFUNDERCUTTERS 177
8. CONFLICTRm..ES 180
I. Thefonnalisationofconflictmies 181
2. Whenaretwomiesinconflict? 181
3. Conflictingconflictmies(1) 182
4. Conflictingconflictmies(2) 184
9. REASONINGABOUTWEIGHTS 184
I. An example 184
2. Case-basedreasoningasawaytoreasonaboutrelativeweights 185
10. REASONSAGAINSTTHEAPPLICATIONOFARm..E 187
li. REASONINGBYANALOOYANDTHEECONTRARIOARGUMENT 189
I. Applyinganunderlyingprinciple 190
2. Applyinganon-applicablemie 191
3. Reasoningforanewmie 193
4. Theecontrarioargument 195
xi
12. REASONINGABOUTTIIEVALIDITYOFRULES 196
1. Rules ofrecognition 197
2. Interpretation 197
3. Principles ofinterpretation 198
4. Case-basedinterpretations 200
VI CONCLUDINGOBSERVATIONS 203
A. POSSlBLEAMENDMENTSTOREASON-BASEDLOGIC 203
1. THEACCRUALOFREASONS 203
2. DEONTICCOLLAPSEANDDEONTICINFLATION 205
3. REAsoNsFORINCOMPATIBLECONCLUSIONS 206
4. DECISIVEREASONS 208
5. DIMENSIONSOFREASONS 209
1. Relevaneeandweight 210
2. Thedimensionofprobability 210
3. Thedimensionofdegree 210
6. EPISTEMICRULESANDPROBABILITY 211
7. EPISTEMICRULES 213
B. SEMANTICSFORRULES 215
8. DIRECTIONSOFFIT 215
9. POSSIBLEWORLDS 217
10. LOGICALLYPOSSIBLEWORLDS 219
11. LOGICALLYPOSSIBLEWORLDSANDVALIDITY 220
12. RULESANDCONSTRAINTS 220
13. EXTENSIONALANDINTENSIONALLOGICS 221
14. SEMANTICSFORREAsoN-BAsEDLOGIC 223
15. SEMANTICSFORRULES 226
C. REASON-BASEDLOGICINCOMPARISON 227
16. CONSISTENCYMAINTENANCEAPPROACHES 228
1. Maximal consistentsubsets 229
2. Themultipleextension'problem' 230
3. Brewka'stheoryofpreferredsubsets 231
4. Evaluationofconsistencymaintenanceapproaches 232
17. DEFAULTLOGIC 234
1. Extensions ofatheory 235
2. Semi-normaldefaultsandundercutters 236
3. Evaluationofdefaultlogic 237
18. CONDITIONALLOGICS 238
1. Morreau'ssystem 238
2. Anevaluationofconditionallogics 240
19. ARGUMENT-BASEDLOGICS 241
1. PS-Iogic 241
2. Arguments 242
3. Conflictsofarguments 242
4. Threecategoriesofarguments 243
5. Anevaluationoflogiesbasedonthecomparisonofarguments. 245