Law Commons^™

Learning More Than Law From Maryland Decisions, Ian Gallacher

Ian Gallacher

This short article describes the fight for freedom waged in Maryland's courts during the 1850s by two slaves, known only as Jerry and Anthony. Although their owner intended to free them, and the other slaves on his plantation, when he died, his son had his father's will declared invalid and the slaves brought a legal action to force their freedom. Although remembered in Maryland law as one of the first cases to discuss intra-state transfer from one jurisdiction to another, and although acting as Maryland's first published civil rights class action, the case also has a great deal to teach …

Use And Limits Of Syllogistic Reasoning In Briefing Cases, Wilson R. Huhn

Wilson R. Huhn

During the nineteenth century, law was equated with science, and legal reasoning was thought to be a species of deductive logic. Consistent with this notion, judicial opinions have traditionally been summarized in the form of syllogisms, that is, as arguments of deductive logic. More specifically, judicial opinions have been described as chains of syllogisms, reasoning from base premises to ultimate conclusions. The principal thrust of this article is to demonstrate that in hard cases, judicial reasoning proceeds not by way of deduction, but by evaluation and balancing.

Accordingly, Part II of this article compares law with science. Historically, law was …