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Using appeals to the emotion in legal arguments

According to the ancient rhetoricians, this section should focus primarily on the logic of the arguments you are making, citing legal authorities and other logic based sources. Your argument should demonstrate a substantive coherence. Despite this emphasis, classical rhetoricians thought that “all arguments must be rounded off either by enlarging on your points or by arousing the feelings of the judge or calming them down”

In Quintilian’s view, there is "scope for an appeal to the emotions in every portion of the speech.” That said, in this section use emotional appeals sparingly – the main focus should be on the legal and logical elements of your argument.

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