A pragma-dialectical approach of legal argumentation: The role of pragmatic argumentation in the justification of judicial decisions

In this contribution I discuss the role of pragmatic argumentation referring to consequences, goals and values in complex structures of legal justification. From a pragma-dialectical perspective I describe the stereotypical patterns of legal justification in hard cases and specify the different ways in which these stereotypical patterns can be implemented in different contexts in which judges give a decision that they justify by referring to consequences, goals and values. Keywords: argumentation, legal values, legal argumentation, goal argumentation, argumentation from consequences, pragmatic argumentation, justification of legal decisions, pragma-dialectic