Review of Lloyd L. Weinreb, Legal Reason: The Use of Analogy in Legal Argument

Abstract

This book review praises Lloyd Weinreb for re-asserting that the use of analogy is at the core of legal - and particularly judicial - reasoning. It finds, however, that he is not quite prepared to accept the implications of his own argument: namely that judges in a common law system can, do and must make law. It is submitted that this obsession to pretend that judges do not make law is peculiarly American. Judges throughout the rest of the common law world are commonly seen as doing just that, and regularly acknowledge that fact.

Keywords: Law, Analogy, Judicial, Reasoning