Analogy and legal reasoning: a cluster of open questions

The analysis proposes a minimal concept of analogy that represents a lowest common denominator among the many models that have been proposed by legal theorists and jurists over time. Such a minimal concept is an explanatory tool to navigate the 'jungle' of questions surrounding this argument that hides behind truisms and trends in contemporary jurisprudence. This analysis sets out some of the issues surrounding analogy: (i) at the level of construction and rhetoric, its relationship to exemplarism in law, legal metaphors and fictions; (ii) at the level of interpretation and adjudication, its relationship to other legal arguments, precedent, legal principles, extensive interpretation and the nature of the source/target norm; (iii) at the level of justification, the axiological and practical dimensions of analogy and the relationship with particularism and universalism; and finally (iv) the values and scope commonly associated with analogy