Analytical Jurisprudence

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Analytical Jurisprudence relates to the method by which legal decisions are made; jurisprudence. As opposed to Political Jurisprudence, analytical jurisprudence is a method by which a legal decision is made using analytical reasoning as it applies to the law. You can think of this as a formula. Case A comes before the court. In the past there was Case B which is similar to the current and was decided a certain way with a certain line of reasoning. A judge following analytical jurisprudence would decide Case A the same as Case B; Mathematically Case A + Case B = Decision.

A believer in analytical jurisprudence would consider a judge to be nothing more than a machine, deciding cases based on strict analytical reasoning as to the way the case should be resolved with regard to stare decisis (in plain English: precedent).

As opposed to Political Jurisprudence which is a judge deciding cases based on political and personal beliefs of how the law should be, analytical decision making is to remove all political and personal influence over the actual decision. An example of analytical jurisprudence today would be in the way the question of Constitutionality in the United States are decided by judges. The analytical side of the debate would say cases involving Constitutional questions should be decided based on the strict reading of the Constitution; Case A + Case B = Decision.

For further reading you might refer to any case before the Supreme Court of the United States. In most of these (you may need to read it more than once) you should see a certain line of reasoning each Justice used to reach their conclusion. They may refer back to other cases, doctrines, laws, legal theories, etc. The main point is the way by which the Justice (or Judge) reaches the decision.


Further Reading: 1. Political Jurisprudence by Martin Shapiro from the Kentucky Law Journal, 52 (1964), 294. 2. "On Law, Politics, and Judicialization" by Martin Shapiro and Alec Stone Sweet; Oxford University Press 2002.

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