Legal reasoning / Melvin A. Eisenberg.

A brief introduction to the common law
Rule-based legal reasoning
Reasoning from precedent and the principle of stare decisis
How it is determined what rule a precedent establishes
Reasoning from authoritative although not legally binding rules
The role of moral, policy and empirical propositions in legal reasoning, and the judicial adoption of new legal rules based on social propositions
Legal rules, principles and standards
The malleability of common law rules
Hiving off new legal rules from established legal rules, creating exceptions to established rules, and distinguishing
Analogy based legal reasoning
The roles of logic, deduction, and good judgment in legal reasoning
Reasoning from hypotheticals
Overruling.