• Deductive Legal Reasoning: Deductive reasoning is a

logical process in which a conclusion is based on

multiple premises that are generally assumed to be
true.
• Significance of Deductive Legal Reasoning: Deductive
reasoning is used for legal reasoning. It is often
expressed in the form of a syllogism, in which a
conclusion is inferred from two known premises, for
instance:
• All human beings are mortal. Kala Khan is a human
being. Therefore, Kala Khan is mortal.
• Syllogism or Syllogistic Legal Reasoning: It is a
method of reasoning in which a conclusion is drawn
from two given propositions called premises i.e. Major
Premise and Minor Premise. The major premise is a
general principle for example, “All dirty floors show
negligence.” The minor premise refers to a specific
fact, such as “This floor of this restaurant is dirty.” The
conclusion relates the minor premise to the major
premise. After stating a general principle on the given
specific fact, we can arrive at a conclusion, “This
restaurant floor shows negligence.”
Example of Syllogistic Legal
Reasoning:
• All men are mortal.
• Shehzad is a man.
• Therefore, Shehzad is mortal.
• The first sentence of the above example is called “Major
Premise” which is usually a broad and generally applicable
truth, i.e. “All men are mortal.” The second sentence is termed,
“Minor Premise”, which is usually a more specific and as
narrowly applicable fact i.e. “Shehzad is a man”. While the
third sentence is named as, “Conclusion” which is true as a
consequence of the premises i.e. “Shehzad is mortal.”
The Principle:
• The principle behind a syllogism is that “what is true
of the universal is also true of the specific.” In
deductive reasoning, you reason from the general to
the particular, so it is essential that the general
statement is a universal truth.
Example:
• Consider the following flawed syllogism:
• Some men are tall.
• Shehzad is a man.
• Therefore, Shehzad is tall.
• The statement, “some men are tall” does not allow
you to deduct that if Shehzad is a man, then he must
be tall. This is an example of flawed syllogism.
• Significance of Syllogistic Legal Reasoning for Law
Students:
• Law students should identify syllogisms when reading
cases and use syllogisms in their outlines and solving
problem-based questions in their exams.

• Legal Reasoning through Analogy:

• The Main Object of Reasoning: The main object of
legal reasoning is to reach to certain conclusion
concerning the facts of a case and to use such
conclusion as an argument;
• Legal Reasoning through Analogy: In the method of legal reasoning by
analogy, a present case is compared with a previously decided cases. If
the facts of the cases are similar, the legal principal applied in the
previously decided case can be used as an argument.
• Example: A man driving a Toyota Corolla runs over an old lady who was
lawfully using a zebra crossing. The man was held liable in negligence
by a court of law in a previously decided case. In a later case A woman
driving a Honda City runs over an old man who was crossing the road
using a zebra crossing.
• If the question before the court is whether the woman was liable in
negligence?
• To answer this question the previously decided case can be presented
to a court as an argument upon the negligence of the woman driver in
the latter case.
 Propositions and Arguments

In reasoning we construct and evaluate arguments; arguments are

built with propositions.
A. Propositions
Propositions are the building blocks of our reasoning.
Propositions may be simple, or compound, containing other
propositions within themselves. A proposition asserts that
something is true or false. And the term statement is not an
exact synonym of proposition, but it is often used in logic in much
the same sense. Statement: A statement is a declarative
sentence, which is a sentence that is capable of being true or
false.
The internal structure of propositions is important. To evaluate an
argument, we need a full understanding of the propositions that
appear in that argument.
 Declarative Sentence:
• Only a declaratory sentence is called and makes a statement or “declares”
something;
• Example of Declarative Sentence:
• For instance, “He eats yogurt”, “He has gone home” or “I am a student”
etc.
• The following sentences are statements:
• 1) Chocolate are loaded with calories;- true
• 2) Garlic is useful for heart disease;- true
• 3) Pakistani political leaders always tell truth;- false
• 4) No servants ever cheat on their masters. - false
• 5) Taimoor plays golf and Muhsin plays tennis.-both true
Sentences Are Not Statements:
• The following sentences are not statements:
• 1) Where is Khartoum? (Question);
• 2) Let’s have lunch at Des Pardes (Proposal);
• 3) I suggest you get contact lenses (Suggestion);
• 4) Turn off the TV right now (Command);
• 5) Fantastic! Yummy! Wonderful! (Exclamation);
Types of proposition
• conjunctive proposition. Asserting a conjunctive
proposition is equivalent to asserting each of its
component propositions separately.
• Some compound propositions do not assert the truth
of their components.
• In disjunctive (or alternative) propositions: no one of
the components is asserted truthiness . Abraham
Lincoln (in a message to Congress in December 1861)
said, “Circuit courts are useful, or they are not useful.”
This disjunctive proposition is plainly true, but either
one of its components might be false.
• Some compound propositions that do not assert their
components are hypothetical (or conditional)
propositions: “If God did not exist, it would be
necessary to invent him.” Here, again, neither of the
two components is asserted. The proposition “God
does not exist,” is not asserted, nor is the proposition,
“it is necessary to invent him.” Only the “if–then”
proposition is asserted by the hypothetical or
conditional statement, and that compound statement
might be true even if both of its components were
false.