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Full-Text Articles in Rule of Law
Reporting Certainty, James A. Macleod
Reporting Certainty, James A. Macleod
BYU Law Review
Legal theorists, judges, and legal writing instructors persistently decry the assertions of certainty—”obviously X,” “undoubtedly Y,” etc.—that litter judicial opinions. According to the conventional view, the rhetoric of certainty that these assertions epitomize is disingenuous. It also reflects, and even encourages, poor judicial decision-making. And as if that were not enough, it is so unpersuasive that it is counter-persuasive: it signals uncertainty, nonobviousness, etc.—the exact opposite of what its author intends. Judges, for these and other reasons, should abstain from needless assertions of certainty and the myopic thinking they evince. That much is certain.
Yet the rhetoric of certainty persists. …
Clark Memorandum: Spring 2018, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Byu Law School Alumni Association, J. Reuben Clark Law Society
Clark Memorandum: Spring 2018, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Byu Law School Alumni Association, J. Reuben Clark Law Society
The Clark Memorandum
- The Path of Present Intention (D. Gordon Smith)
- Scholarship as Dialogue and a Constructive Exercise: A Look at the Investitures of Three BYU Law Professors (D. Carolina Núñez)
- A Pattern of Timeless Moments: The J. Reuben Clark Law Society at 30 (Scott W. Cameron)
- "To Me He Doth Not Stink": Advocacy and Love (Gayla Moss Sorenson)