Self-study
P1
Until about 1970, anyone who wanted to write a comprehensive history of medieval English law as it actually affected women would have found a dearth of published books or articles concerned with specific legal topics relating to women and derived from extensive research in actual court records. ████ ██ █ ███████ ███████████ █████ █████ ███████ ███ ██ █████ ██████████ ██ ███████████ ███ ███ ███ ████████ ████████ ██████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ███ ███ ███ ████████ ██ ██████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ██████ █████ ███
Problem ·
Lack of records-based research on how medieval English law affected women
Court records an important resource on real-world impacts of law on women
Contrast ·
court records against other research sources
Other sources (treatises, commentaries, statutes) show how the law was intended or believed to affect women, but do not show actual outcomes
Possible solution ·
Quantitative studies of court cases
Reinforce problem: few such studies exist
P2
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Reason for problem ·
Large number of lengthy, untranslated records in Latin and old French
Author's perspective ·
on real reason for problem
Few legal historians are interested specifically in women's history as it relates to the law
Implications of problem ·
Incomplete knowledge of how medieval English law affected women
Passage Style
Problem-analysis
Single position
22.
It can be inferred from ███ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ ████████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ██ ████ ██ ███ ███████ █████████ ██ ██████████████████ ██████████ ██ ████████ ████
a
They are adequate ██ ███ ████████ █████ ██ █ ██████ █████ █████████ ███████ ██ ███████████ ████████ ████
Not supported, the author never indicates that any source is adequate for the needs of a modern legal historian studying medieval law. Although we know that certain sources were what most nineteenth-century historians of medieval law consulted, that doesn’t indicate adequacy for the needs of modern historians.
b
They are to ██ █████████ ██ ████████ █████ ████████ █████ ███ ██████████ ███ █████████ ██ ████
Not supported. The author never expresses a judgment about which sources she prefers. She never suggests one kind of source is generally better than another. Although there is support for the belief that some sources are more useful for studying certain subjects, this doesn’t extend to a general preference for some sources over others.
c
They lack fundamental █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ █████ ████████████ ███ ██████
Not supported. The author never suggests the sources are not relevant to the history of modern legal institutions and ideas. Although these sources might not be the best for studying how women were affected by law, that doesn’t imply these sources are not relevant to other subjects.
d
They provide relatively ██████ ███████████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ █████ ███████ ██ ███████ █████ ███████ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ███████████
Supported by the
e
They are valuable █████████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ████ ████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ███████ █████ ████████
Not supported. The author never expresses a judgment about what is the primary value in these sources. Although these sources might answer some questions concerning how laws were intended to affect women, we don’t know that the author finds primary value in the ability of these sources to answer these questions.