Reference : MM-1-21-15

Name of creator(s) : Michael Moerman

Scope and content : Moerman refers to the work of Kennedy (1963), in which he looks at the Greek rhetorician Hermagoras and the philosopher Aristotle, and focuses on the four most important reasons that lead to a dispute: the fact, the injury, the importance and the justice. He cites Hermagoras, who gives examples of ‘pleas of excuse’ in criminal justice: (a) the subject refuses to commit the crime; (b) the subject recognizes the criminal commitment, but he does not know the act is wrong; (c) he commits the crime but only because of the force of circumstances, and (d) the final conviction is dependent on the sentence meted out by the individual judge. Aristotle also defines the meaning of the word "enthymeme", in which an unstated assumption must be true in order to lead to a conclusion. Judges do not simply use logic as a basis for making a conviction, but instead bring other factors into consideration.

Extent and medium : Punch card