In England the burden of history weighs heavily on common law, that unwritten code of time-honored laws derived largely from English judicial custom and precedent. βββ
Intro to Topic Β·English common law
Unwritten body of law that comes from a long history of jurisprudence.
Theoretical Reason Β·The law is a unified coherent system
At any given moment, the law can be understood as a logical whole, a coherent system. The past matters only in that it represents past states of the system.
To study common law historically means to pay attention to fiction, perception, and memory. Tradition also means rewriting and adapting to contemporary circumstances.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Problem-analysis
14.
The primary purpose of the βββββββ ββ ββ
Question Type
Implied
Purpose of passage
Why did the author write the passage? To present Goodrichβs solution to the problem of a lack of focus on historical roots during the modern study of law.
This is the best answer. The paradoxical situation is the fact that the history of common law is critical to understanding it, but modern study of jurisprudence tends to ignore the historical roots of common law. The new view of the situation is Goodrichβs view. No other answer states something that occurs in the passage, so you have to pick this one, once you can see what βparadoxical situationβ might refer to.
52%
b
supply a chronological βββββββ ββ βββ βββββββ ββ ββ ββββ
The author doesnβt summarize the history of common law or some other idea. We don't get a recounting of the historical development of something.
Goodrich is the only theorist mentioned. We donβt get a discussion of the origin of his ideas, and the author doesnβt evaluate his current work. She simply describes one of his views. She probably agrees with his view, but she doesnβt make any comments about her opinion of his view, so we canβt characterize what the author does as βevaluating.β
The author doesnβt compare past legal theories with modern legal theories. The author discusses the importance of the historical roots of law and then complains about the modern studies of jurisprudence. At no point does the author comment on a past legal theory. Thereβs a difference between the historical roots of law and a past legal theory.
33%
e
advocate a traditional ββββββ ββ βββββββ βββββ βββββββββββ β βββ βββββ
The author doesnβt advocate anything traditional. If anything, she wants the traditional way law is studied to change. The author may want law to study historical traditions, but thatβs different from advocating a traditional school of thought.
12%
Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.
This is a very difficult question.
It is slightly harder than the average question in this passage.
Score of students with a 50% chance of getting this right
163
Analysis
Implied
Implied
Stems asking us to infer an idea implied by the claims in the passage (as opposed to identifying an idea that appears explicitly). Similar to most strongly supported questions in LR.
Stems that ask us to describe the overall purpose of the passage. Similar to main point questions, but often call for more abstract language in the answer choices (e.g. "to criticize a popular theory").
Critique or debate passages contain multiple points of view on a particular subject. Sometimes the author takes sides and participates in the critique or debate, other times the author merely reports the debate.
Passages that present a particular problem and then discuss the implications of that problem. They also often explore one or more solutions to that problem (although they donβt have to).