Rue d'Ulm : Comparative Judicial Stylistics

Abstract

What is the poethic method of reading law ? It claims that the form of a judicial opinion is indistinguishable from its substance. The structure, syntax, and word choice of the judge are not mere ornament ; they in fact comprise the decision. You cannot extract the judge's manner of writing from the rule, or holding, of the decision, or if you do it is only at your peril. As Benjamin N Cardozo put it in his seminal 1925 essay called "Law and Literature":Form is not something added to substance a …