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Reasonableness

{{Short description|Legal concept}}

{{Judicial interpretation}}

The concept of reasonableness has two related meanings in law and political theory:

  1. As a legal norm, it is used "for the assessment of such matters as actions, decisions, and persons, rules and institutions, [and] also arguments and judgments."{{Cite book |title=Reasonableness and law |date=2009 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-4020-8499-7 |editor-last=Bongiovanni |editor-first=Giorgio |series=Law and philosophy library |location=Dordrecht Heidelberg}}
  2. As a regulative idea, it "requires... that all factors that might be relevant in answering a practical question be considered and... that they be assembled in a correct relation to each other in order to justify [a judgement]."

Reasonableness should not be conflated with rationality.

Political theory

Reasonableness has been discussed by political thinkers such as John Rawls (in his 1993 Political Liberalism),{{Cite journal |last=Moore |first=Margaret |date=1996 |title=On Reasonableness |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-5930.1996.tb00159.x |journal=Journal of Applied Philosophy |language=en |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=167–178 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-5930.1996.tb00159.x |issn=0264-3758|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last=Boettcher |first=James W. |date=2004 |title=What is reasonableness? |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0191453704045756 |journal=Philosophy & Social Criticism |language=en |volume=30 |issue=5–6 |pages=597–621 |doi=10.1177/0191453704045756 |s2cid=146271626 |issn=0191-4537|url-access=subscription }} T. M. Scanlon, Brian Barry and Georg Henrik von Wright.

Law

The notion of "reasonableness" is omnipresent in European law, and has also affected "international treaties and general customs".{{Cite journal |last=Zorzetto |first=Silvia |date=2015 |title=Reasonableness |journal=Italian Law Journal |volume=1 |pages=107}} Examples of its use can be found in canon and medieval law, suggesting roots going back to Ancient Rome.

= Standards and doctrines =

Standards and doctrines requiring reasonableness include:

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= Constitutional and administrative law =

In constitutional and administrative law, reasonableness is a lens through which courts examine the constitutionality or lawfulness of legislation and regulation.{{Cite web |title=5.3 Reasonableness |url=https://www.icj.org/chapter-5-standards-and-techniques-of-review-in-domestic-adjudication-of-esc-rights-2/5-3-reasonableness/ |access-date=2023-07-13 |website=International Commission of Jurists |date=21 December 2020 |language=en-US}}{{Cite journal |last=Zaring |first=David |date=2011 |title=Rule by Reasonableness |url=https://www.administrativelawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Rule-by-Reasonableness.pdf |journal=Administrative Law Review |volume=63 |pages=525}}{{Cite journal |last=Garrett |first=Brandon L. |date=2017 |title=Constitutional Reasonableness |url=https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6531&context=faculty_scholarship |journal=Minnesota Law Review |volume=102 |pages=61}} According to Paul Craig, it is "concerned with review of the weight and balance accorded by the primary decision-maker to factors that have been or can be deemed relevant in pursuit of a prima facie allowable purpose".{{Cite journal |last=Craig |first=Paul |date=2013-01-01 |title=The Nature of Reasonableness Review |url=https://academic.oup.com/clp/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/clp/cut010 |journal=Current Legal Problems |language=en |volume=66 |issue=1 |pages=131–167 |doi=10.1093/clp/cut010 |issn=0070-1998|url-access=subscription }}

== Common law ==

Examples of reasonableness standards in common law jurisdictions include:

== Mixed jurisdictions ==

=Reasonability=

{{Expand Hebrew|topic=gov|עילת הסבירות|section=yes|date=August 2023}}

{{refimprove section|date=August 2023}}

Reasonability is a legal term. The scale of reasonability represents a quintessential element of modern judicial systems and is particularly important in the context of international disputes and conflicts of laws issues. The concept is founded on the notion that all parties should be held to a reasonable standard of conduct{{fact|date=August 2023}} and has become embedded in a number of international conventions such as the UNIDROIT principlesTeramura. [https://books.google.com/books?id=PJrnDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT155 "Demonstrating reasonableness"]. Ex Aequo et Bono as a Response to the ‘Over-Judicialisation’ of International Commercial Arbitration. 2020. and the CISG.Article 8 United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods

The concept of reasonability is applicable to Roman law.Frier, "Case 98: Reasonability", A Casebook on the Roman Law of Contracts, OUP, 2021, [https://books.google.com/books?id=huEsEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA223 p 223]. María José Falcón y Tella, Case Law in Roman, Anglosaxon and Continental Law, 2011, pp [https://books.google.com/books?id=i_N5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA138 138] to 140.

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

= Books =

  • {{Cite book |last1=Bongiovanni |first1=Giorgio |title=Reasonableness and law |last2=Sartor |first2=Giovanni |last3=Valentini |first3=Chiara |date=2009 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-4020-8500-0 |series=Law and philosophy library |location=Dordrecht New York}}
  • {{Cite book |last=Hevia |first=Martín |title=Reasonableness and responsibility: a theory of contract law |date=2013 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-94-007-4604-6 |series=Law and philosophy library |location=Dordrecht}}
  • {{Cite book |last=Vadi |first=Valentina |title=Proportionality, reasonableness and standards of review in international investment law and arbitration |date=2018 |publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing |isbn=978-1-78536-858-5 |series=Elgar international investment law |location=Cheltenham, UK Northampton, MA, USA}}
  • {{Cite book |title=Reasonableness and interpretation |date=2003 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |isbn=978-3-8258-6638-9 |editor-last=Volpi |editor-first=Franco |edition= |series=Ars interpretandi |location=Münster}}
  • {{Cite book |title=Reasonableness in Liberal Political Philosophy |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2014 |isbn=9781317983750 |editor-last=Young |editor-first=Shaun}}
  • {{Cite thesis |last=Dindjer |first=Hasan |title=A theory of reasonableness in administrative law |date=2020 |degree=Ph.D. |publisher=University of Oxford |url=https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.833318}}

= Articles =

  • {{Cite journal |last=Boettcher |first=James W. |date=2004 |title=What is reasonableness? |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0191453704045756 |journal=Philosophy & Social Criticism |language=en |volume=30 |issue=5–6 |pages=597–621 |doi=10.1177/0191453704045756 |s2cid=146271626 |issn=0191-4537|url-access=subscription }}
  • {{Cite journal |last=Clancy |first=Thomas K. |date=2004 |title=The Fourth Amendment's Concept of Reasonableness |journal=Utah Law Review |issue=4 |pages=277 |ssrn=1565797}}
  • {{Cite journal |last=Craig |first=Paul |date=2013 |title=The Nature of Reasonableness Review |journal=Current Legal Problems |volume=66 |issue=1 |pages=131–167 |doi=10.1093/clp/cut010}}
  • {{Cite journal |last=Garrett |first=Brandon L. |date=2017 |title=Constitutional Reasonableness |journal=Minnesota Law Review |volume=102 |issue= |pages=61–126}}
  • {{Cite journal |last=Mangini |first=Michele |date=2018 |title=Toward a theory of reasonableness |journal=Ratio Juris |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=208–230|doi=10.1111/raju.12205 }}
  • {{Cite journal |last=Zipursky |first=Benjamin C. |date=2015 |title=Reasonableness in and out of Negligence Law |journal=University of Pennsylvania Law Review |volume=163 |issue=7 |pages=2131–2170}}
  • {{Cite news |last=Sokol |first=Sam |date=2023-01-19 |title=Israel's 'Reasonableness' Standard Is in the News. But What Is It and Why Do We Need It? |language=en |work=Haaretz |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-01-19/ty-article/.premium/israels-reasonableness-standard-is-in-the-news-but-what-is-it-and-why-do-we-need-it/00000185-ca85-d3a8-a3cf-cfb54d660000 |access-date=2023-07-13}}

Category:Administrative law

Category:Constitutional law

Category:Legal doctrines and principles

Category:Political philosophy