Law is defined not as a set of logical propositions but in terms of official action. Law is what courts (or other officials) do, not what they say. Until a court has passed on certain facts, some realists argued, there is no law on the subject yet in existence, for the opinion of lawyers is only a guess as to what the courts will decide. Since law is defined in terms of official action (and not of the rules which should guide action), it follows that any force that will influence a judge in reaching a decision (whether corruption, indigestion, or partiality for the other sex) is a fit subject for jurisprudence. Much scorn is poured on the classical jurists for being deceived by what the courts said they were doing instead of examining what they actually did.