Examples Of Deductive Reasoning

When judges make decisions on a case in a court “they use a process of reasoning to explain how they have come to that conclusion” (Open University (“OU”) 2017 a). There are three forms of logical reasoning judges use; these are deductive, inductive and analogous.

Deductive reasoning begins with a general principle and basing a conclusion on it. The most famous type of deductive reasoning is syllogism. Firstly, the reasoning begins with a statement that is true the major premise. Secondly there is a minor premise which is also known to be correct and is like the major premise but also specific to the case the judge is deciding on. The third step allows the judge to decide on the case by taking what is known from the first two steps and conclude that the case fits within the largest premise. An example of deductive reasoning, is that if criminal offences are unlawful (major premise), theft is a criminal offence (minor premise) the conclusion would be theft is unlawful (OU 2017 a). However, this form of reasoning is entirely dependent on the premises being used are true and is very structured and cannot be changed.

Inductive reasoning is when a conclusion is made by the judge from specific examples, it is the reverse of deductive reasoning. It allows the judge to

He used specific examples to set a general principle of duty of care (inductive reasoning). He also used a general premise of “love your neighbour” (deductive reasoning) to establish a duty of care and used case precedents (analogous reasoning). Lord Buckmaster who gave the main dissenting opinion used deductive reasoning by stating that there was a major premise that there was no duty of care outside a contract (except in certain exceptions but Donoghue did not fall into these), but it could be argued that this was a social/economic principle not a legal