Legal Commentary

Converse and Obverse

By Kenneth Anderson

Okay, now I can?t get my brain around it.  In my post below, I wondered about converse versus obverse.  Can someone do two things for me, in the language usage category.  First, give me a clear definition of the distinction between the two.

Second, and harder, I believe but maybe am wrong ... give me examples of how, in prose in which one is using them as linguistic metaphors rather than as technical terms in math or something genuinely physical, one would use each correctly.  Meaning by correctly, showing me the difference in when and how you would use one, and then the other.  The converse of a proposition is ... and the obsverse of a proposition is ... and the difference between the is ...  but then give me some examples from a more realistic setting, not just speaking abstractly of ?propositions.?

I wonder if I have been abusing these terms all my life.

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on August 28, 2010 (boomark / email).