A priori

Legal Definition and Related Resources of A priori

Meaning of A priori

(Lat. by the prior reason). In logic. An argument preceding from causes to effects.

What does A priori mean in American Law?

The definition of A priori in the law of the United States, as defined by the lexicographer Arthur Leff in his legal dictionary is:

In logic and law, a term for a mode of thought or reasoning “from before” or “from prior principles.”

The nature of a priori reasoning, sometimes called “deduction,” and its distinction from inductive, or a posteriori, reasoning, are subjects widely and hotly disputed now and for millenia. Very loosely stated, the a priori mode involves starting from certain premises or “givens,” and then, by following certain rules of reasoning (e.g., avoid contradictions, never both affirm and deny the same proposition, never allow one term to have more than one meaning), reaching a conclusion required or “entailed” by those initial premises.

As a guide for action, e.g., in law, the a priori mode has obvious problems. The first involves the status of the initial premises. It is one thing to construct a logical or mathematical system in which every term, and every “proper” operation, is defined in the “let it be that” way; nothing is at stake in such a process, any more than anything is at stake in stipulating the permissible moves of a chess piece. But in a legal system, especially if initial premises or principles are to have such a large effect on outcomes, it is hard successfully to defend a system when the ultimate answer to any challenge is the assertion of an a priori definition not further defensible.

The second problem involves the operation of a deductive system in a real world. Such a process requires perfect definitions, i.e., one and only one meaning for each term, and perfectly unambiguous rules of operation, such that when one comes up with a contradiction, one can know it. But ordinary life, and the ordinary language in terms of which it takes place, know no such perfections. See ambiguity. This is not an accident of language or a defect thereof; the complexities of human behavior do not admit of easy definition; to pick one crude example, under a statute awarding custody to a parent who “cares for” a child (and forbidding it to one who “inflicts

harm” on it), does one give custody to a parent who often hits a child “so he won’t turn out bad?”

This leads to the third major difficulty with a priori reasoning as a fully adequate legal mode. The goodness or badness of law is today seen as at least a partial function of results. But causation is a far more complicated matter than “entailment,” the process by which a logical conclusion flows from its defined premises. A good law is one with good results, and the goodness of those results is tested not by the consistency with which they flow from premises, but from their effects on people’s lives. Determining that requires a large dollop of induction, of a posteriori reasoning.

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A Priori in the Dictionary A Priori in our legal dictionaries
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Related topics A Priori in the World Encyclopedia of Law

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This definition of A Priori Is based on the The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary . This entry needs to be proofread.

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Synonyms of A Priori

adverb

  • accordingly
  • as a consequence
  • as a result of
  • as is
  • because of this
  • by reason of
  • consequently
  • deducibly
  • deductively
  • derivatively
  • doubtlessly
  • ergo
  • ex concesso
  • for that reason
  • for this reason
  • for which reason
  • from a general law to a particular instance
  • from cause to effect
  • from that cause
  • from this cause
  • in consequence
  • inferentially
  • necessarily
  • on account of this
  • on that account
  • on that ground
  • proceeding from antecedent to consequent
  • thusly
  • to that end

a priori in Law Enforcement

Main Entry: Law Enforcement in the Legal Dictionary. This section provides, in the context of Law Enforcement, a partial definition of a priori.

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See Also

  • Law Enforcement Officer
  • Police
  • Law Enforcement Agency

Further Reading

Definition of A Priori

In the context of international law, the legal resource A Dictionary of Law, provides a definition of A Priori : (Latin: from the previous (i.e. from cause to effect))

Describing or relating to reasoning that is based on abstract ideas, anticipates the effects of particular causes, or (more loosely) makes a presumption that is true as far as is known, i.e. deductive reasoning.

Compare a posteriori.

Meaning of A Priori

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  • A Posteriori

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