Reason, Reasonable

REASON - By reason is usually understood that power by which we distinguish truth from falsehood, and right from wrong; and by which we are enabled to combine means for the attainment of particular ends.

A man deprived of reason is not criminally responsible for his acts, nor can he enter into any contract.

Reason is called the soul of the law; for when the reason ceases, the law itself ceases.

In Pennsylvania, the judges are required in giving their opinions, to give the reasons upon which they are founded. A similar law exists in France, which Toullier says is one of profound wisdom, because, he says, judgments are not as formerly silent oracles which require a passive obedience; their irrefragable authority, for or against those who have obtained them, is submitted to the censure of reason, when it is pretended to set them up as rules to be observed in other similar cases.

REASONABLE - Conformable or agreeable to reason; just; rational.

An award must be reasonable, for if it be of things nugatory in themselves, and offering no advantage to either of the parties, it cannot be enforced.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.