The place of causality and probability in judical decision

Abstract

In both philosophy and in the process of legal decision, the concepts of causality
and probability have been the fundamental pivots that are subject of controversy.
Without these concepts, the science of adjudicating reasoning will be arbitrary. But
the reliance on these concepts has provided a solid standard of judicial process. In
this piece of essay, we are to determine the role and the use of these concepts in
the determination of judicial decisions. Before then, insight will be given as to the
various uses of the concepts with particular reference to the role they play in legal
reasoning. Under this, we will look at the application of these concepts on
testimonial and circumstantial evidence for judicial reasoning with a view to
showing how in some cases the judgments given are found to be far from what is
the truth. Most of the judgments or decisions are based on the balance of
probability of evidence. This in itself is fraught with problems. This we will notice in
the course of this work.


Sophia: An African Journal of Philosophy Vol. 8(1) 2005: 158-167



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Keywords: