The concept of law can be explained in many different ways and methods, however to easily sum it up one could say it's mainly used as a dispute resolving mechanism that minimizes or altogether prevent the practice of self help. Law can also be described as a social system, something that is utilized to separate one culture from another, to keep civil order and to maintain a balance within a population. Law, in a general sense, can also be an organization of rules or conduct set by an authoritative source, thus having binding legal force. The study of law is known as jurisprudence, which includes eight different schools of law, while at the same time there are also seven total sources of law. To review the seven sources of law, one must start with common law, which takes a role as most important and will explained in detail in a moment.
[...] To fully understand why the case of Dorset Yacht Co. v. Home Office is an example of common law, one must first be educated about the case itself. The case can be summed up as Seven Borstal boys (British juvenile detention residents) were working on an island under the control and supervision of three officers from the Home Office. During the night, the boys left the island, boarded, cast adrift and damaged the plaintiffs' yacht, which was moored offshore. The plaintiffs brought an action for damages against the Home Office which charged negligence. [...]
[...] It is the law of the case, with which the facts (major premise) will be compared, so as to reach a decision (conclusion) (48). To fully understand the importance of inductive and deductive reasoning, one must realize the law is neither entirely inductive nor entirely deductive. In an instance where the law is clear and precise, and the use of facts of the law are even, the argument can be classified as exclusively deductive reasoning. On the other hand, where the law is clear and understandable, while the only question is the application of the facts to the law, one would employ both inductive and deductive reasoning. [...]
[...] The case of Dorset Yacht Co. v. Home Office in Chapter Seven of Logic for Lawyers is a prime example of common law in several different ways. Not only was the case materialized as a product of judicial opinion, but it also used analyses of previous cases in a case by case development system. The case used specific instances and situations when being decided upon, as well as utilizing the method of analogy to compare the resemblances and/or differences to previously decided cases with similar characteristics. [...]
[...] Stevenson example within the current case, Lord Diplock claimed that the plaintiff (Dorset Yacht) ignored the forewarning, clarified further, by seeking treat as a universal not the specific proposition of law in Donoghue v. Stevenson which was about a manufacturer's liability for damage caused by his dangerous products but the well known aphorism used by Lord Atkin to describe a ‘general conception of relations giving rise to a duty of care'”(123). Basically described, Lord Diplock relates the case in the fact that bringing harm to your neighbor (in this case would be the Borstal boys damaging the property of the Home Office) is to be avoided and shunned upon, resulting in punishment. [...]
[...] Seeing as common law is case law of the specific instance, it is formed by a means of both inductive and deductive reasoning. The next step in the process would be constructing the logical form that the overall conclusion will have. Its importance is high, since the conclusion of the inductive reasoning procedure develops into the major premise of the succeeding deductive reasoning process. The previous analysis leads into a proposition which can help explain the case further. Through this proposition, characteristics of the case were formed through analogy, using etc. [...]
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