The litigated hard cases thus represent a biased sample. [fact]
Because straightforward or easy applications of legal rules are rarely litigated, the cases that come to a court are predominantly and disproportionately ones that are in some way hard. The litigated hard cases thus represent a biased sample of all legal events, a phenomenon typically referred to as the selection effect.
Unknown, Frederick Schauer - Thinkin…, loc. 449