У статті проаналізовано ідеї фундаторів школи правового реалізму, що були спрямовані на переосмислення основних факторів, які мають враховуватись при формуванні юридичної аргументації.
Простежено шлях, вибудований школою правового реалізму, та акценти, які були розставлені від механічної юриспруденції до мистецтва побудови юридичної аргументації.
This article describes the influence on the theory of legal reasoning made by school of legal realism. The
author analyzes the ideas of the school of legal realism founders focused on reconsidering the main factors
to be taken into account in the legal reasoning process. The article traces the path built by the school of legal
realism and the accents that were shifted from the mechanical jurisprudence to the art of legal reasoning.
According to the approach of legal formalism that dominated in the nineteenth century, judges apply the
law to the facts of the case mechanically using only the methods of logic.
The main objective, which has been set by legal realists, was to overcome formalism and the mechanical approach
in legal reasoning. Taking into account the core findings of legal realism founders, the authors demonstrate
that the central idea of the school lies in the scope of an empirical approach to the perception of reality. In
practice, this provides judges with recommendations to treat responsibly the analysis of all facts of the case in
order to find justice and come more closely to credibility. Considering an example of prominent American judge
Joseph C. Hutcheson, the author demonstrates the evolution of perception of the main tools and factors in legal
reasoning and analyzes the impact of an irrational phenomenon on the decision-making process. Basing on approaches
of the school founders, the author pays attention to the role of logic and its methods, judges’ discretion
with regard to the facts and evidences in case, and the personality of judge in the process of legal reasoning.
In the result of the research, the author reaches a conclusion that the school of legal realism made a significant
contribution to the development of theory of legal reasoning, rethinking its way from mechanical copying
of cases based on formal analysis of rules and precedents to the art of analysis of the facts and formation
of opinion and argument.
