Abstract

This chapter discusses slippery slope arguments that are used in the context of common-law precedent. The slippery slope argument is often treated as a fallacy. Nonetheless, using or answering slippery slope worries in legal decision-making is conspicuously common. And not only that: several authors have remarked that slippery slope arguments can often be valid, even strong, in the context of legal precedent. In this chapter, I investigate why this should be so. It is argued that there is a special type of slippery slope argument, the precedent slippery slope. Understanding its mechanism reveals why slippery slopes are so strong in the context of precedent.