 What makes these general rules so important is the imitative and repetitive style of jurisprudence in Ibn Rushd’s day, which had been overwhelmed by a focus on individual cases and the endless branching of views. Thus, either the jurist works according to a rule that distinguishes similar cases from others, or he works according to ordinary common sense to produce controversial answers. This is what the writings of the Malikites suffered from in his time. Ibn Rushd insists on establishing jurisprudential maxims that make understandable the disagreement among schools of jurisprudence and jurists and provide the diligent jurist with basic mechanism for making decisions regarding emerging problems and cases.