Judges and Judiciary
Apr. 8, 2014
The temptation of common sense
A while back a lawyer wrote that "common sense" compelled victory on his motion. That's nice, I thought. So why had I bothered to read the cases? By Curtis E.A. Karnow
Curtis E.A. Karnow
Judge (ret.)
San Francisco County Superior Court
Judge Karnow is author of "Litigation in Practice" (2017) and current co-author of Weil & Brown et al., "California Practice Guide: Civil Procedure Before Trial" (Rutter).
"[T]he metaphysics of savages." - Bertrand Russell on common sense.
A while back a lawyer wrote that "common sense" compelled victory on his motion. That's nice, I thought. So why had I bothered to read the cases? Common sense would have been enough.
Common sense is argued to juries all the time; but also to judges. Some think sentencing is a matter of common sense: Intuition is good enough. Common sense is often argued under other banners - a party's position is "obvio...
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