Flea Bites On Puppues Belly

The trial of King Solomon

In the next post, I'm sticking to the trial of King Solomon, as that this decision is the paradigm of a just decision (hence the expression "is a Solomonic decision), but if we analyze the case in depth, we can find that this decision is at least debatable.

The trial of King Solomon

Then two women went to the king, and stood before him. One of them said

"Oh, my lord, this woman and I lived in the same house, and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. After the third day, after I had my son, this woman also gave birth. We were alone. There was no anyone else in the house. This woman's son died in the night. She got up at midnight, and took my son from me, while thine handmaid slept, and put it in his bosom, and laid her dead child in my womb.

When I got up this morning to nurse my son, I realized he was dead, but when I looked closer in the morning, I realized that was not the boy who had given birth. But the other woman told me: No, the living child is mine, the dead one is yours. I replied no, the dead child is yours, and the living child is mine. "

So they came before the king.

Then the king said: "A says my son that is alive, and his son that is dead. " And the other says, "No, your son is dead and my son that is alive." And the king said, "Bring me a sword." So a sword was brought before the king. And the king said: "Split the baby in two and give half to one and half to the other."

The woman whose son was alive said to the king, because his heart yearned for his son, "Oh, my lord, give her the living child to another woman, but not kill him." The other woman said, " the child will be neither mine nor yours, divide it. "Then the king answered and said," Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means kill him, she is his mother''

And all Israel heard of the sentence which the king had been made and is impressed by the king, because it is perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to justice.

Questions:

1. What is the problem here?

• Who was the natural mother? Who would take care
• child better?

2. Could Solomon know who the real mother? Does this problem had a solution at that time?

3. Do you agree with the method used by Solomon find out who was the mother? What are the moral qualms that he could do? What are the epistemological objections to it could make to that environment? What would you think if a judge uses this mechanism now?

4. Do you think that both women genuinely believed that the child was hers?

5. According to you, what would build the wisdom of Solomon:

• was it a clever researcher?,
• "a fair judge?,
• enlightened" troubleshooter?, Or
• did a good gambler?

6. How could you focused and solved the case?

The case and the questions are taken from the following references:

MURRAY, Peter, Green & Nesson. Problems, Cases, and Materials on Evidence. Aspen Law and Business, 2005.

http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k9840&pageid=icb.page34732&pageContentId=icb.pagecontent86710&view=view.do&viewParam_name=KingSolomonsJudgmentIKings316.html # a_icb_pagecontent86710
ANDERSON, Terence, David Schum and William Twining, Analysis of Evidence, 2d ed., 2005.

Part of the analysis and answers to the questions in this case, you can find en los siguientes links, libros y artículos:

MURRAY, Peter, Green & Nesson. Problems, Cases, and Materials on Evidence. Aspen Law and Business, 2005.

Ann Althouse. Beyond King Solomon's Harlots: Women in Evidence, 65 S. Cal. L. Rev. 1265 (1992)
Ann Althouse. The Lying Woman, The Devious Prostitute, and Other Stories from the Evidence Casebook, 88 Nw. U. L. Rev. 914 (1994).
ANDERSON, Terence, David Schum & William Twining, Analysis of evidence, 2d ed., 2005.

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