Every legal maxim has a counter-maxim applicable with equal plausibility
Evidence
The Setting.-Winter begins with a hypothetical taken from Jeremy Paul that posits a society that uses counsellors much as we use lawyers. These counsellors study maxims and precedents before advising clients on important life-choices. “Inevitably, however, some brash young scholar at one of the elite university schools makes a startling discovery: Every maxim appears to have a counter-maxim that, in any given case, could be applied with equal plausibility.” — Philip Chase Bobbitt, Reflections Inspired by My Critics, 820
Categorization
- XREF: Recalls the common-law inderterminacy thesis in Llewellyn’s and other legal realist critiques of formalism. — connects to: Litigated cases self-select to those where both sides have plausible legal arguments — Frederick Schauer, Thinking Like a Lawyer, 253