PrepTest 137 - Section 1 - Passage 4 - Question 22

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Can a sovereign have unlimited legal power. ██ █ █████████ ████ ████ █████████ █████ ██████ ████ ███ █████████ ██████████ ███ ███ █████ █████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ██████████ ████████ ███ ███ █████ ██████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ███ █████████ ██ ██████ ███ █████████ █████ ██████ ███████ █████████████ ███ ███████ ████████████ ████ ███████████ █████████ ██ █████████████ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████████████

Question · Can a sovereign be omnipotent?

If so, then the sovereign has the power to limit its own power which means it no longer has unlimited power. That's the paradox of omnipotence.

OPA · Sovereign omnipotence can be a source of difficulty for soverigns

E.g., the English and French monarchies experienced this

OPA · It can be good for sovereigns to have their power be limited

E.g., having absolute power means you can refuse to honor debts which means that you can't get a loan.

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OPA Example · French and English's unlimited power hurt them

These sovereigns failed to pay debt and expropriated property. Consequently, creditors started demanding high interest rates to capture risk of default.

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OPA Solution / Conclusion · The Parliament's limit of the Crown's power resolved the paradox

The Parliament was able to credibly commit the Crown to honor is debts. Consequently, the Crown was able to borrow at a much lower rate.

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OPA legacy · Constitutional limits to powers as a benefit is now the conventional view

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Author’s Critique · Constitutions can fail to limit power

Author’s Argument · Did not solve the problem; merely shifted it

The paradox of omnipotence still exists. All the constitution does is to take omnipotence away from the Crown and give it to itself, the Parliament.

Passage Style

Critique or debate

Problem-analysis

22.

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

Question Type

Application

P3 indicates that creditors cared about whether they’d get paid back. Before the Glorious Revolution, creditors couldn’t be confident that monarchs would pay their loans back, because monarchs could just unmake or disregard their obligation to pay the loans back. After the Glorious Revolution, the creditors would probably still care about getting their money back. So they’d care about whether Parliament will honor their financial commitments. If Parliament will tend to unmake or disregard the loans entered into by the government, then creditors will be less likely to lend at a low interest rate.

whether most members ██ ██████████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ █████████ ███████████

It’s not clear that creditors have any opinion about sovereign omnipotence or that awareness of sovereign omnipotence plays any role in lending decisions. Keep in mind that sovereign omnipotence is an outside observer’s description of a problem — the author is analyzing the situation and calling it a problem. But this doesn’t imply that any of the individual historical figures (monarchs, creditors, Parliament members) are aware of the problem.

whether Parliament can ██ ████████ ██ ██ ██████████ █████████ ██████████ █████████

This is the best answer. P3 indicates that creditors cared about whether they’d get paid back. Before the Glorious Revolution, creditors couldn’t be confident that monarchs would pay their loans back, because monarchs could just unmake or disregard their obligation to pay the loans back. After the Glorious Revolution, the creditors would probably still care about getting their money back. So they’d care about whether Parliament will honor their financial commitments. If Parliament will tend to unmake or disregard the loans entered into by the government, then creditors will be less likely to lend at a low interest rate.

84%

when the most ██████ █████████████ █████████ ████ ████

There’s no evidence creditors would care about the timing of Parliamentary elections.

how many new ████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ████

There’s no evidence creditors would care about the number of laws passed.

whether the Crown's █████████ ███ █████████ ██ ██████ █████

What matters is whether the creditors are likely to get paid back; we’re never told that creditors viewed an increase in recent borrowing as a factor in whether to lend or at what terms to lend. Even if you think it’s factor, there’s no support for the idea that creditors viewed it as “the most important” factor.

11%

PrepTest 137 - Section 1 - Passage 4 - Question 22

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