#13 - Concept Reference, Must Be True, Author's Perspective

[hfsports429]

Hi,

I was wondering about #13-Which one of the following best describes the author's opinion of most modern academic theories of common law?

The correct answer, B, I thought was a little too strong. What line provides the most support for this answer?

Thanks!

[David Boyle]

Hi,

I was wondering about #13-Which one of the following best describes the author's opinion of most modern academic theories of common law?

The correct answer, B, I thought was a little too strong. What line provides the most support for this answer?

Thanks!

Hello hfsports429,

"Yet the academic study of jurisprudence has seldom treated common law as a constantly evolving phenomenon rooted in history; those interpretive theories that do acknowledge the antiquity of common law ignore the practical contemporary significance of its historical forms. . . . In theoretical terms, modern jurisprudence has consistently treated law as a unified system of rules that can be studied at any given moment in time as a logical whole. . . . In political terms, believing in the logic of law is a necessary part of believing in its fairness; even if history shows the legal tradition to be far from unitary and seldom logical, the prestige of the legal institution requires that jurisprudence treat the tradition as if it were, in essence, the application of known rules to objectively determined facts. To suggest otherwise would be dispiriting for the student and demoralizing for the public."

Hope this helps,
David

[lilmissunshine]

Hello,

Could you explain why (D) is incorrect as opposed to (B)? Thanks a lot!

[Adam Tyson]

Answer D looks to be an opposite answer, lilmiss, because the author tells us that modern law is heavily dependent on the old-school approach to common law, which views it as a set of rules to be studied and followed instead of, as Goodrich suggests, a constantly evolving tradition. Early in the passage we were told that students are "frequently required to study medieval cases, to interpret archaic Latin maxims, or to confront doctrinal principles" in order to learn, understand, and apply the rules of common law. That's not excusing them from studying those important disputes, but demanding that they do so! Not even Goodrich advocates that those studies be abandoned, but only that the lessons learned from them be applied in different, more flexible and evolving ways.

Those opposite answers can be pretty tricky at times, so be careful and gather your evidence to support your answer choice. Don't be fooled!

[ataraxia10]

Why is C incorrect?

[Jay Donnell]

Hi ataraxia!

This question requires extra careful attention as to whom or what the author is holding their opinion upon. Here, we are asked for the author's opinion regarding "most modern academic theories of common law."

There are two claims in paragraph two that show answer choice C to essentially be the opposite of what happened in the passage.

"those interpretive theories that do acknowledge the antiquity of common law ignore the practical contemporary significance of its historical forms. The reasons for this omission are partly theoretical and partly political."

This would imply that the modern theories that ARE studied don't 'overemphasize the practical aspects', rather they seem to ignore them altogether.


This is a fairly nasty passage and I often find myself lost in the middle as to exactly just what in the heck is going on, but the core idea of the author's perspective in the first half is that modern academics focus too much on the theoretical and not enough on the practical significance of common law. That idea is what supports answer choice B, and essentially eliminates answer choice C.

Hope that helps!

[ataraxia10]

Thank you!