PrepTest 112 - Section 2 - Passage 4 - Question 26

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With the elimination of the apartheid system, South Africa now confronts the transition to a rights-based legal system in a constitutional democracy. ███

Intro topic · South Africa's transition to a rights-based legal system

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Concern · New system is less rule-bound, and more interpretative

A constitutional court will hear arguments on whether laws passed by p arliament are constitutional. This has never happened in South Africa before, so there is uncertainty.

Elaborate on concern · May be difficult to foster rights-based culture

Society is multiracial, with a wide range of political beliefs. The constitution's bill of rights is described very generally, and there's no legal precedent to help determine its meaning.

Use of international law · Can look to other countries' legal precedent, but need to be careful

Some scholars think that SA judges might blindly follow other countries' interpretations of their own constitutions. But, scholars are optimistic that SA judges will develop their own precedent over time.

Additional source of difficulty · SA citizens suspicious of law

Law in SA has traditionally been tool of oppression, so citizens break and oppose laws.

Passage Style

Problem-analysis

Single position

26.

Based on the passage, the ████████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ █████████ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ███████████

Question Type

Implied

Other’s perspective

We’re told that scholars believe judges might follow interpretations of law in other countries without taking into account the differences between those countries’ circumstances and South Africa’s. But we’re also told that these scholars are “hopeful” that judges will rely on international interpretations in a way that helps develop precedent that addresses South Africans’ needs.

Reliance of judges ██ ███ ███████████████ █████ █████ ██ ██████ ██ █████ █████████ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ████ ████ ███████████████ ███ ██ █████ ██ █████████████ ███ ███████████ ██████████ ██ █████ ███████

Supported as something the scholars would agree with. They warn judges against following interpretations of law in other countries without taking into account the differences between those countries’ circumstances and South Africa’s.

87%

Basing interpretations of ███ █████ ███████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ███████████████ █████ █████ ██ ██████ ██ █████ █████████ ████ █████████ ███ ███████ ██ ████████ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ███████

Not supported. We have no reason to think the scholars would connect reliance on other countries’ interpretations with the antagonistic attitude of citizens described in P3.

The lack of ██████████ ██ █████ ███████ ███ ███ ████████████ █ ████ ██ ██████ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████████ █████████ ███ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ███████ █████████████

Not supported. We have no reason to think that the scholars believe it’s “impossible” to correctly interpret the South African constitution.

Reliance by judges ██ ███ ███████████████ █████ █████ ██ ██████ ██ █████ █████████ ██████ ██ ████████████ █████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████████ ███ █████ ███████ ████████████ ██ █ ███ ████ ████ ████ ███ ██████████ █████ ██ █████ ███████ █████████

Not supported. The scholars are open to reliance on other countries’ interpretations; they just want to make sure judges take into account differences in the countries’ circumstances compared to South Africa’s circumstances.

Because bills of ██████ ██ █████ █████████ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ████ ███████ █████ ████ ███ █████ ███████ ████ ██ ███████ ███████████████ ██ ████ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ████████████ ███ █████ ███████ ████ ██ ███████

Not supported. We have no reason to think scholars believe other countries’ bills or rights are written in less general terms than the South African bill of rights.

PrepTest 112 - Section 2 - Passage 4 - Question 26

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