Chapter twelve of the Epstein text revolves around the concept of reasoning by analogy, the most important portion of this chapter is section D, analogies in the law. This section focuses on the application of reasoning by analogy to America's legal system and the idea of common law. Reasoning by analogy is effectively the main idea in the American legal system, as the use of preceding court decisions is almost always routine in this country. This type of circular reasoning prevents conflicting decisions as to how laws are supposed to be interpreted, making the American system of law fair and balanced. This system of using prior court decisions to continually set precedents, in order to interpret new situations which laws must be applied to, is defined as common law. An example of this idea is the way supreme court decisions are used, because the supreme court has ruled school segregation is unconstitutional any court cases concerning school segregation can utilize reasoning by analogy to state that segregation in schools is unconstitutional as it has been ruled on before. These ideas help maintain the order and effectiveness of law in America everyday.
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