more fully explained later, it is worth making brief comment here to
consolidate the reader’s understanding of conditional statements.
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To illustrate the relationship of a conditional statement and a syllogism,
consider the conditional statement: “If a person does X, Y will happen”. A
conditional statement in this form is the major premise of a syllogism where the
rest of the syllogism is simply unfolding the logic impounded in the major
premise. Thus, this conditional statement is the basis of a syllogism in the
following form:
Major Premise
If a person does X, Y will happen
Minor Premise
A person does X
Consequences
Therefore Y happens
Figure 3.1 Syllogism
To explain how application of law to facts consists of a syllogism, assume that
there is a legal rule whose elements are Elements 1-n and whose consequences
are labelled Consequences. Assume also that facts that fall within the elements
(called the material, essential or relevant facts) can be labelled in a
corresponding way to their elements. Thus Fact 1 is the label for a fact that
falls within (and thus satisfies) Element 1, Fact 2 is the label for a fact that falls
within Element 2 and so on. In these circumstances the syllogism takes the
following form:
Major Premise
If facts fall within the categories designated by Elements 1-n they cause
Consequences.
Minor Premise
The material facts in this case, Facts 1-n, fall within the categories
designated by Elements 1-n.
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Consequences
Therefore Facts 1-n cause Consequences.
Figure 3.2 Applying Law to Facts as a Syllogism
Diagrams
A highly useful way to portray the structure of a legal rule as conditional
statement involves setting it out in a diagram. In the diagram portraying a legal
rule as a conditional statement, elements are designated as Element 1, Element
2 and so on. Consequences are designated in a similar way as Consequence 1,
Consequence 2 and so on. This can be represented by a diagram that takes the
following form:
Elements
Element 1
___________________
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Chapter 31 Model for Using Law
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This method of labelling elements as Elements 1-n is incorporated into the
models for using law, which is explained in Chapter 31 Model for Using Law.
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