ABSTRACT
Legal reasoning in the common law relies on logic, principally through the use of the syllogism. Inductive reasoning and the use of the syllogism to discern the likely outcome from the application of a single rule to a single case is a clear and efficient way to manage cases. In a civil law system in which many black letter rules exist to guide attorneys in crafting their arguments, the inductive reasoning process is relatively straightforward. Attorneys in the United States are well-versed in the nature of legal argument and understand that rules need to be made, not found. Before getting into the structure of a deductive argument, it is important to note that crafting a rule through deductive reasoning is more of an art than a science. Deductive logic refers to the application of a general legal principle, such as a statute or regulation, to reach a specific conclusion in a single case.
