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.
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?
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.
Main Conclusion ·Scholars should study negotiations and treaties
And how environmental principles inform those negotiations and treaties.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Problem-analysis
27.
The author states that there ██ █ ██████ ██ ██████████ █████████ █████████████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████
Question Type
Stated
There’s only one place the author comments on a dearth (lack) of systematic empirical investigation: “Although systematic empirical studies are lacking, experience shows that harmful pollutants constantly cross most international borders...” So the answer should relate to the level to which harmful pollutants cross international borders. There’s not enough systematic empirical research into this.
a
the extent to █████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████████ █████████████ █████████████ ███
This is much more abstractly stated than we would expect, but it’s correct. The author notes that we’re lacking in empirical studies concerning how often pollutants cross international borders. The author discusses this issue in connection with the point that nations are not actually complying with the environmental principles purported to be norms of customary international law. So a more abstract way to characterize the empirical research we’re lacking is that we’re lacking research into how often nations are failing to comply with the environmental principles.
The author doesn’t comment on a lack of systematic empirical investigation into success rates for different legal remedies.
d
the extent to █████ ███ █████████ █████████ ████████ █████████████ ██████████ ██ ██ █████████ ██ ██████████ █████████████ ████████
The author doesn’t comment on a lack of systematic empirical investigation into the level to which pollution that crosses is in violation of treaties. Although the author does indicate that we don’t have enough empirical investigation into how often pollution crosses international boundaries, this is different from the level to which the pollution that does cross crosses in violation of a treaty.
e
the extent to █████ ████████ ██ █████████████ █████████████ ███ █████ █████ █████ ██████████ ███ █████ ██ █████████ █████████████ █████████████ ███
The author doesn’t comment on a lack of systematic empirical investigation into the level of agreement concerning which principles are norms.
Difficulty
47% of people who answer get this correct
This is a very 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%154
164
75%174
Analysis
Stated
Critique or debate
Law
Problem-analysis
Answer Popularity
PopularityAvg. score
a
47%
165
b
12%
158
c
14%
158
d
21%
160
e
5%
157
Question history
You don't have any history with this question.. yet!
You've discovered a premium feature!
Subscribe to unlock everything that 7Sage has to offer.
Hold on there, stranger! You need a free account for that.
We love that you want to get going. Just create a free account below—it only takes a minute—and then you can continue!
Hold on there, stranger! You need a free account for that.
We love that you came here to read all the amazing posts from our 300,000+ members. They all have accounts too! Just create a free account below—it only takes a minute—and then you’re free to discuss anything!
Hold on there, stranger! You need a free account for that.
We love that you want to give us feedback! Just create a free account below—it only takes a minute—and then you’re free to vote on this!
Subscribers can learn all the LSAT secrets.
Happens all the time: now that you've had a taste of the lessons, you just can't stop -- and you don't have to! Click the button.