The Five Types of Legal Argument, Second Edition

The Five Types of Legal Argument succeeds both as a work of legal theory and as a practical guide to legal reasoning for law students, lawyers, and judges.  Huhn introduces each concept separately, and from many parts Huhn develops an intricate and nuanced theory of what law is.  Huhn also shows readers how to identify, create, attack, and evaluate the five types of legal arguments (text, intent, precedent, tradition, and policy) and how to weave the different types of arguments together to make them more persuasive. The Second Edition of this book further develops both the theoretical and practical themes of the work. In this edition Huhn introduces two additional ways of attacking legal arguments, and in a new chapter he utilizes principles of deductive logic to demonstrate the validity of the theory of the five types of legal arguments.

The principal strength of this book is its clarity.  The book is written in plain language that is easily understood both by lay persons and professionals, and it is organized simply and logically.

Reviewers and legal scholars have described the book as “fascinating” and “masterful.”  The Five Types of Legal Argument is required reading at a number of leading American law schools, and it is recommended for anyone who wishes to understand how to construct and how to critique legal arguments.