Book Reviews : An Introduction to Legal Reasoning. By EDWARD H. LEVI. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 1949. Pp. 74. $2.00.)

• Date: 01 December 1950
• Author: Spencer L. Kimball
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295000300416
• Published date: 01 December 1950
• Subject Matter: Articles

635
of natural law with the existence of different methods of reasoning.
The &dquo;transcendental&dquo; conception has been adopted by all political
philosophers who have been convinced that reason has the power to
provide absolutely valid ideas or notions. That belief has been repu-
diated by the German historical school, whose adherents have invested
reason with the faculty of finding by intuition such ideas as can claim
absolute validity only for a given nation or a given period under certain
historical conditions. Again, the bolshevist political philosophy has no
use for natural rights because of the dialectical features of its reasoning.
Utilitarianism, however, has its logical roots in hypothetical reasoning,
which ascribes to reason only the limited capacity of basing its processes
on assumptions derived from experience.
In accordance with this approach the varying interpretations of the
terms &dquo;natural law&dquo; and &dquo;natural rights&dquo; could be connected with an
agelong struggle over divergent modes of thought, a struggle which has
pressed its stamp not only on the development of political institutions
but on the entire history of western civilization.
KARL PRIBRAM.
Washington, D. C.
An Introduction to Legal Reasoning. By EDWARD H. LEVI. (Chicago:
The University of Chicago Press. 1949. Pp. 74. $2.00.)
The logic of the lawyer is reasoning by analogy-decision by detec-
tion of similarity and difference, rather than by deduction. The com-
peting analogies are placed by counsel before the judge, who makes
a reasoned choice among them. Explanation may take a syllogistic
form but the real process of decision is the formulation of the major
premise, the rule of law, which exists for the single case alone, and
the determination of facts which constitute the minor premise.
Professor Levi treats in detail three problems, one of pure case-
law, one of statutory interpretation, and one of constitutional inter-
pretation. The processes are essentially the...