In most jurisdictions, courts are called upon to provide reasons to justify their ruling. The purpose of this requirement is to put judicial decision-making under control in accordance with the principles of legality, equal treatment, separation of powers and legal certainty. However, it is disputed whether legal reasoning by courts is a suitable means to this end or merely a rhetorical device that conceals the discretionary exercise of judicial power. This essay reconstructs the debate on this topic in the field of legal philosophy, and provides a model for the analysis of legal reasoning in contemporary civil law systems.