Analogy — characteristic of a good and bad analogy. Its use in law — circumstantial evidence

Two cars were both driven at night, both had bald tyres, and both skidded off the same curve. If a third car, also with bald tyres, is driven down that curve at night, will it skid too? Your instinct to say ‘probably’ is analogical reasoning at work — and knowing when that instinct is trustworthy, and when it is a trap, is what this topic teaches.

In two minutes

Analogical reasoning infers that because two or more things agree in several known respects, they probably agree in some further respect as well; it is a form of induction, never certain, and its strength depends entirely on how many relevant resemblances hold and how few material differences exist.

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Logic – I on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.