Fundamentals of Legal Argumentation: A Survey of Theories on the Justification of Judicial Decisions

Legal argumentation is a distinctively multidisciplinary field of inquiry. It draws its data, assumptions and methods from disciplines such as legal theory, legal philosophy, logic, argumentation theory, rhetoric, linguistics, literary theory, philosophy, sociology, and artificial intelligence. This presents the growing group of interested scholars and students with a problem of access, since, even for those active in the field, it is not common to have acquired a familiarity with relevant aspects of each discipline that enters into this multidisciplinary matrix. Fundamentals of Legal Argumentation offers its readers a unique and comprehensive survey of the various theoretical influences which have informed the study of legal argumentation. It discusses salient backgrounds to this field as well as all major approaches and trends in the contemporary research. It surveys relevant theoretical factors both from various continental law traditions and common law countries.

Preface. Introduction. 1. Research Into Legal Argumentation. 2. A Survey of Approaches and Topics. 3. The Logical Approach. 4. Toulmin's Argumentation Model. 5. Perelman's New Rhetoric. 6. Habermas' Theory of Communicative Rationality. 7. MacCormick's Theory of the Justification of Legal Decisions. 8. Alexy's Procedural Theory of Legal Argumentation. 9. Aarnio's Theory of the Justification of Legal Interpretations. 10. Peczenik's Theory of Transformations in the Law. 11. The Pragma-Dialectical Theory of Legal Argumentation in the Context of a Critical Discussion. 12. Towards a Theory of Legal Argumentaton in the Context of a Critical Discussion. Bibliography. Author Index. Subject Index.