PT154.S3.P4.Q25

PrepTest 154 - Section 3 - Passage 4 - Question 25

Hide analysis
P1

In the absence of international statutes prohibiting nations from causing each other environmental damage, scholars of international environmental law typically focus on trying to identify and clarify norms of "customary international law": that body of commonly accepted—but not formalized—legal principles that is manifest in the behavior of nations toward one another. ███

Intro to Topic · Environmental principles considered as norms of customary international law
There's no explicitly written international law that prohibit countries from engaging in certain behaviors that could damage the environment of another country. So scholars have to look at the unwritten principles to understand how countries behave in this regard.
███ █████████████ ██████████ ███ █████ ████ ██ ██ ███████████ █████ ██ █████████ █████████████ ████ ███ ██ █████ ██████████ ██████████ █████████████ █████ ███████ ██████ ████████ ██████████ ██████ █████ ███████ ████ █████ ███████████ █████████████ ████ ██████ █████ ████████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████ █████████████ ██████████ █████ ████████ ███████ ██ ████████ ███ ████ ██ █████ ███████ █████ ███████ ██ ███████████ ████ ██ █████████████ █████

Two Principles/Norms · 1. Don't harm your neighbors; 2. Take due care to avoid risk of (1)
Say you and I are countries. We share a river. I'm upstream of you. (1) would mean that I tell my industries not to dump pollutants into the river. (2) would mean that I tell my industries to think about what other harms might occur and take precautions to prevent them from occurring.
P2

██ ████████ ███████ █ █████ █████████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ █ ████ ██ █████████ █████████████ ███ ███ ███ ████████ ██ ████████ █████████████ ██████ ████████ ██ █████████████ █████████████ ███ █████████ ██████ ██ ███████████ ██████████ ██████████ ███ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ███████████ █████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ ██████ ████████ ██████ ████ ██████ █████████ ████ ██ █████████ ██████████ ███

Criterion · Principals are norms only if nations follow them
Apparently there's a distinction between a "principle" (like the two stated in the previous paragraph) and a "norm" which is defined here as what nations actually do. So if a nation doesn't abide by the principle, then it's not a "norm." Okay... where is this going?
██ █████ ████████ ████ █████████ ███████ ██ █████████ █████████████ █████████████ ████ █████████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ █████████████ ████ ███ ███ █████████████ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ██████ ████████ ██ ████ ████████ ████████ ██████████ █████████ ███████ ███ ████████ ██████████ █████ ████ ███████ ██████████ ██████████ █████ ████ █████████████ ████████ ███ ████ ███████ ████ ████ ██████ █████████ ██ ██████ ████ ██████████

Application of Criterion · Nations do not abide by these principles
E.g., they let pollutants travel downstream to their neighbors. So these principles are not norms.
P3

████ ██████ ███████ ████ ██████ █████ ██ █████ █████████████ ████████ ████ ████████████ █████████ ███████ ██ ██████ █████ ██████████ █████ ████████ ██████████ █████████ █████████████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ███████ ███ █████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██████████ █████ ██ ████ ███████ ████████ ██ ████████ █████████████ █████████████ ███████ █████████ ███████ ███ ██████████ █████████ ████ ███████ ███ ██ ███████ █████ ███ ███████ ███ █████████ █████ ██ █████ ████████ ███

Facts · Nations and scholars both say one thing and do another
Nations say one thing and do another. They speak as if these are norms but they do not behave accordingly. Scholars also say one thing and do another. They say they based their research on what nations do but actually debate more about what nations say.
█████ █████ █████████████ ███████ ███ ███ ████████ ████████████ ██ █████ ██ █████████ █████████████ ████ ████ █████ ████ ██████████ ██ █████████████ ██ ██ ███████████ ███████ █████ ████ ██████ █████████ ████ ██████████ ██████ ██ ███ █████████████ ██████████

Sub-Conclusion / Major Premise · These "norms" are not actually norms
Author claims that these so called "norms" are just ideological systems.
P4

██ █████ ██ ████ █████ █████ ████████ ███ ████ ██ █████████ █████████████ ███ █ ████ █████████ ███ █████████ ██ █████████████ █████████████ █████ ███ ████████████ █████ ████████ ████ ██ ██████████ ████ █████ ████ █████████████ ████████ ███ ██████ █████████████ ██████ ████ █████████████ █████ ██████████ ███ ███ ███ █████████ █████ ██ █████████ █████████████ █████████████ █████████ ███

Main Conclusion · Scholars should stop studying international court decisions
Most environmental disputes are being resolved directly via negotiations and treaties, not by going to international court.
██ █████ ██ ████ ██████████ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ████ ████████ ████ ████████████ ████ █████████ ████ ████ ██████ █████████████ █████████ ██████ ██ ████████ ██████ ███ ███ ███████████ ██ ████ █████████████ ██████████ ███ ██████████ ██ ████████████ ███ ██████ ██████████ ████ ████████ █████ ███████ ████████ ██████ ██████████ ████ █████ ███████████ ████ ███████ ██ ███████████ █████████ ██ █████████████ ████████

Main Conclusion · Scholars should study negotiations and treaties
And how environmental principles inform those negotiations and treaties.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Problem-analysis
Show answer
25.

It can be inferred that ████ ███ ██████ ███ ███ ████████ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ███████████

a

Until extensive empirical ███████ █████████ ███ ████ ██ █████████████ ██████████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████████████ █████████████ ████ █████████████ ████████ ████ ██ ███████ ████████████

We don’t know the scholars’ opinion on the effectiveness of treaties.

6%
b

Judicial decisions that ███ ████████ ██ █████████ █████████████ ███ ████ ██████ ████ █████████ ████ ██████ ████████████ ██ █████████ █████████████ █████████████ █████████

We don’t know the scholars’ opinion on the effectiveness of direct negotiations.

20%
c

If it is █████████ ██ █████████ ███████ █ ██████████ ██████ █████████ ████ ██ ██████████ ████ ███ █████████████ ██████████ ████ █████████ ██ ███ █ ████ ██ █████████ ███ ███ ███ ██████ ██ █████████

We don’t know whether the scholars or the author think difficulty in determining compliance is relevant to whether a principle is a norm of customary law. We do know that whether a nation customarily abides by a principle is relevant to whether that principle is a norm. But there’s a difference between whether a nation customarily abides by a principle and whether it’s difficult to know whether a nation abides by a principle.

14%
d

If it can ██ █████ ████████████ ████ ███████ █████████ ██ ███ ███ ██ ██████████ ████ █ ██████████ ████ █████████ ██████ ██ ████████████ ██████████ █ ████ ██ █████████ █████████████ ████

Supported as something both the scholars and the author agree with. Scholars generally accept that actual compliance with a principle is a requirement for that principle to be a norm. The author calls this requirement an “established criterion,” which suggests she agrees with the idea that actual compliance is a requirement for a principle to be considered a norm.

51%
e

Until a large ██████████ ██ ███████ █████ ████████ █████████ ███ █████ ██ █████████ █████████████ █████████████ ████ █████ ████ ██ ██ ████████ █████ ███ ████████ █████████████ █████████████ █████████

We don’t know whether scholars think treaties are required for a reliable way to resolve international environmental disputes.

10%

Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.

It takes about five minutes.

Take the free diagnostic
More free LSAT prep: Sample LSAT questions Free practice test All free LSAT resources

Confirm action

Are you sure?