Self-study
P1
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.
P2
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OPA ·
Sovereign omnipotence can be a source of difficulty for soverigns
E.g., the English and French monarchies experienced this
P3
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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.
P4
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.
P5
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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.
P6
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OPA legacy ·
Constitutional limits to powers as a benefit is now the conventional view
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
24.
According to the passage, which ███ ██ ███ █████████ ███ █ ███████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███████████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ███ ██████████ ██████████
a
It was difficult ███ █████ ████████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ████████
Supported, because we’re told that the monarchs “
b
Those monarchs enacted ███ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████████ ██ ██████████
We’re never told that monarchs passed new laws regarding the obligations of creditors.
c
It became increasingly ████ ███ ███████ ████████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ ██████
The author doesn’t indicate that wealthy subjects found it “increasingly” easy to borrow money. The author does indicate that wealthy subjects could borrow money more easily than the monarchs, but this doesn’t imply an increase in the ease of borrowing over time.
d
Those monarchs borrowed ████ █████ ████ ████ █████ ████ ██ █████ █████ ███ ████ ███████████
The passage supports the opposite. It was harder for monarchs to borrow
e
Those monarchs were ██████ ██ ███████████ █ ███████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ███████
The author never indicates that willingness to respect property rights was a consequence of unlimited power. If anything, the passage suggests the opposite; monarchs earned a reputation for expropriating wealth and reneging on commitments.