Because legal argument shares many of the characteristics of academic debate, it can serve as a paradigm for evaluating debates. Like debate, legal argument is bilateral, the judge is external to the deliberation and excluded from raising his or her own arguments, and reasons have been developed for assigning presumption, determining the wording…

Based on research indicating that restrictive judicial language directed at jurors encourages reactance, or decisions contrary to the judge's instructions, two experiments were conducted to determine whether courtroom jurors merely admonished to ignore inadmissible evidence would be more inclined to comply with judicial instructions than would…

College debaters who go to law school are often surprised by the differences between the processes that take place in the court of reason and the process that takes place in the court of law. The court of reason relies mainly on authoritative testimony, while the court of law relies on direct evidence. Evidence in the court of reason is either…

Influences on the California Supreme Court's educational policy decisions were studied for the 26 California Supreme Court Justices who served during 1954-1982. It was found that the intensity of political party affiliation was significantly related to support for college students' and professors' claims of civil rights and liberties in…

Arranged in five chapters, this supplementary resource for junior high students contains information on the history, practical applications, and social consequences of the law. In chapter 1, students are introduced to the origin of laws through examination of a fable, the relationship between government and laws, types of laws, and law…