Computers have long been utilized in the sphere of law in the form of word processors, spreadsheets, legal research systems, and practice management systems. ███
Problem with Early Methods ·Underestimated difficulty of interpretation
E.g., is a mobile home in a trailer park a house or a motor vehicle? That requires interpretation. Many laws contain vague concepts in order to be flexible. But to apply those laws requires a lot of contextual knowledge about the world.
Problem with Modern Methods ·The problem of interpretation is still present
Because the computer still needs to figure out which cases are similar in relevant ways.
Passage Style
Problem-analysis
Single position
24.
The passage suggests that the ██████ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████ █████ ████████████ █████████ █████ █████████ ████████
Question Type
Author’s perspective
Implied
The question stem is too general for us to make a strong prediction. We should use POE on the answer choices, keeping in mind the author’s main point: legal reasoning systems don’t work well because they have difficulty interpreting laws and applying them to different situations.
a
These systems have ███ ███ ████████ ████████████ ██ ████████ ███████████ ███ ████ ██████ █████ ██ ███ █████ ██ █████ ██████████████
Unsupported. The author only ever says that these systems have fallen short of expectations. She never suggests that anyone’s expectations have been met.
Anti-supported. The author argues that progress is hindered because of the way these systems function on a fundamental level. The problems are more on the theoretical side. Meanwhile, the author never raises any issues with access to legal documents.
c
These systems will ████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ████████ █████ ██████ ████ ██ ████ ██ █████ █████████
Unsupported. The author never suggests how these systems will or should be used. She brings up legal research systems as an example of a long-standing use of computers, but she indicates that legal reasoning systems are a different kind of tool from legal research systems.
d
Rule systems will ██████ ███████ ██████████ ███████ ████ █████
Unsupported. The author presents case-based systems as a more recent development than rule-based ones, and she never suggests that rule-based systems will replace them. She simply says there are problems with both.
Strongly supported. The author notes that to for rule-based systems to work, they’d need a “comprehensive knowledge of the world” beyond what computers are capable of, and that case-based systems suffer from an “intractable” (i.e., difficult to solve) problem in software development. So she believes that if we can ever overcome the problems with legal reasoning systems, it would require significant advances in computer tech.
Difficulty
61% of people who answer get this correct
This is a very difficult question.
It is slightly harder than the average question in this passage.
CURVE
Score of students with a 50% chance of getting this right
25%151
161
75%171
Analysis
Author’s perspective
Implied
Law
Problem-analysis
Single position
Answer Popularity
PopularityAvg. score
a
12%
160
b
4%
160
c
20%
162
d
2%
158
e
61%
167
Question history
You don't have any history with this question.. yet!
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