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. ███
Intro to Topic ·English common law
Unwritten body of law that comes from a long history of jurisprudence.
Theoretical Reason ·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
9.
Which one of the following █████ ████ █████████ ███ ████ ██ ████████████ ██████ ████████ ██ ██ ███ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████
Question Type
Application
We’re asked for an example of interpretive theories that (1) acknowledge the history of common law, and (2) ignore the practical contemporary significance of the historical forms of it. For example, a theory that involves study of certain historical aspects of law, but doesn’t connect those historical aspects to their influence on modern law.
a
a theory that ██████ ██████ ███████ █████████ ████████ █████████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ████████ ████████
This theory does examine the practical contemporary significance of history. It shows how a historical practice is important to a modern custom.
16%
b
a theory that ██████ ██ █ ██████████ ███████ ██████ █████████ ██████████ ███ ████████ ██████████ ███████████
This theory doesn’t acknowledge the historical aspects of law. We have no reason to think “medieval theatrical conventions” play a role in the history of law.
4%
c
a theory that ████████ ████████ ████████ ████ ███████ █████████ █████ ████████████ ██ ██████ ████
This is the best example. The theory does acknowledge history in that it analyzes medieval marriage law. But it doesn’t connect those historical elements to modern law.
71%
d
a theory that ████████ ███ ███████████ ██ ███████ ██████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ███████ ████ ████████████ ████████████ ██ ██████ ██████ ███ ███████ █████████ ███ ██████ █████████████ ██ ██████ █████ ██████
It’s not clear that the development of law in the twentieth century (1900 to 2000) is an acknowledgement of the antiquity of common law. The author refers to the medieval origins of common law in P1.
6%
e
a theory that ████████ █████ ██ ████████ ██ █████ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ████████ ██████
This theory doesn’t acknowledge the historical aspects of law.
2%
Difficulty
71% of people who answer get this correct
This is a difficult question.
It is similar in difficulty to other questions in this passage.
CURVE
Score of students with a 50% chance of getting this right
25%138
151
75%165
Analysis
Application
Application
Questions asking us to apply a rule/definition from the passage, or to find the best example of something from the passage.
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 don’t have to).
