Self-study
P1
Until about 1970, anyone who wanted to write a comprehensive history of medieval English law as it actually affected women would have found a dearth of published books or articles concerned with specific legal topics relating to women and derived from extensive research in actual court records. ████ ██ █ ███████ ███████████ █████ █████ ███████ ███ ██ █████ ██████████ ██ ███████████ ███ ███ ███ ████████ ████████ ██████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ███ ███ ███ ████████ ██ ██████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ██████ █████ ███
Problem ·
Lack of records-based research on how medieval English law affected women
Court records an important resource on real-world impacts of law on women
Contrast ·
court records against other research sources
Other sources (treatises, commentaries, statutes) show how the law was intended or believed to affect women, but do not show actual outcomes
Possible solution ·
Quantitative studies of court cases
Reinforce problem: few such studies exist
P2
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Reason for problem ·
Large number of lengthy, untranslated records in Latin and old French
Author's perspective ·
on real reason for problem
Few legal historians are interested specifically in women's history as it relates to the law
Implications of problem ·
Incomplete knowledge of how medieval English law affected women
Passage Style
Problem-analysis
Single position
25.
According to the passage, the ███████ █████████ ██ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███ █████ █████████ █████████ ████████ ████████ ███████████ ██████████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ███████
a
the intent of ████████ ███████ ████ █████████ █████ ███ ███ ████████ ██ ████████████ ██████████ ███ █████ ████ ████████ █████
Stated. The “latter questions” are how the law was intended to affect women or thought to affect women.
b
the overall effectiveness ██ ███████ ███ ██ ███ ████████ ██████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ████████ ████ ███████ ██ █████ ████
No support concerning “the overall effectiveness of English law in the medieval period.” Look at the “
c
the degree of ███████████ ████ █ █████ █████████ ██ █████████ █████ ███ █ █████ ████ ██ ████████ ███████
No support concerning the probability that a woman would win a legal case. Just look at “the latter questions” – neither of these relate to the probability a woman would win a legal case.
d
the degree to █████ ███ ████ █████████ ██ ████████ ████████████ █████ ███████ ██ ██████████ █████ █████ ████ ██████████ █████ █████ ██████
No support concerning whether male relatives could prevent women from exercising legal rights. Just look at “the latter questions” – neither of these relate to the male relatives.
e
which of the █████ ██████ █████████████ ██████ ██ ███ ███ █████ █████ ██ █████████ ██████████ ████ ██ ███
No support concerning whether certain rights were guaranteed only to men. Just look at “the latter questions” – neither of these relate to men and their rights.