Medievalists usually distinguished medieval public law from private la

Question

Medievalists usually distinguished medieval public
law from private law: the former was concerned with
government and military affairs and the latter with the
family, social status, and land transactions.
 (5)  Examination of medieval women’s lives shows this
distinction to be overly simplistic. Although medieval
women were legally excluded from roles thus
categorized as public, such as soldier, justice, jury
member, or professional administrative official,
 (10)  women’s control of land—usually considered a private
or domestic phenomenon—had important political
implications in the feudal system of thirteenth-century
England. Since land equaled wealth and wealth equaled
power, certain women exercised influence by
 (15)  controlling land. Unlike unmarried women (who were
legally subject to their guardians) or married women
(who had no legal identity separate from their
husbands), women who were widows had autonomy
with respect to acquiring or disposing of certain
 (20)  property, suing in court, incurring liability for their
own debts, and making wills.

Although feudal lands were normally transferred
through primogeniture (the eldest son inheriting all),
when no sons survived, the surviving daughters
 (25)  inherited equal shares under what was known as
partible inheritance. In addition to controlling any such
land inherited from her parents and any bridal dowry—
property a woman brought to the marriage from her
own family—a widow was entitled to use of one-third
 (30)  of her late husband’s lands. Called “dower” in
England, this grant had greater legal importance under
common law than did the bridal dowry; no marriage
was legal unless the groom endowed the bride with this
property at the wedding ceremony. In 1215 Magna
 (35)  Carta guaranteed a widow’s right to claim her dower
without paying a fine; this document also strengthened
widows’ ability to control land by prohibiting forced
remarriage. After 1272 women could also benefit from
jointure: the groom could agree to hold part or all of
 (40)  his lands jointly with the bride, so that if one spouse
died, the other received these lands.

Since many widows had inheritances as well as
dowers, widows were frequently the financial heads of
the family; even though legal theory assumed the
 (45)  maintenance of the principle of primogeniture, the
amount of land the widow controlled could exceed that
of her son or of other male heirs. Anyone who held
feudal land exercised authority over the people
attached to the land—knights, rental tenants, and
 (50)  peasants—and had to hire estate administrators,
oversee accounts, receive rents, protect tenants from
outside encroachment, punish tenants for not paying
rents, appoint priests to local parishes, and act as
guardians of tenants’ children and executors of their
 (55)  wills. Many married women fulfilled these duties as
deputies for husbands away at court or at war, but
widows could act on their own behalf. Widows’ legal
independence is suggested by their frequent appearance
in thirteenth-century English legal records. Moreover,
 (60)  the scope of their sway is indicated by the fact that
some controlled not merely single estates, but multiple
counties.    1 
 1. Which one of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage?

(A) The traditional view of medieval women as legally excluded from many public offices fails to consider thirteenth-century women in England who were exempted from such restrictions because of their wealth and social status.
(B) The economic independence of women in thirteenth-century England was primarily determined not by their marital status, but by their status as heirs to their parents’ estates.
(C) The laws and customs of the feudal system in thirteenth-century England enabled some women to exercise a certain amount of power despite their legal exclusion from most public roles.
(D) During the thirteenth century in England, widows gained greater autonomy and legal rights to their property than they had had in previous centuries.
(E) Widows in thirteenth-century England were able to acquire and dispose of lands through a number of different legal processes.

2 
 2. With which one of the following statements about the views held by the medievalists mentioned in line 1 would the author of the passage most probably agree?

(A) The medieval role of landowner was less affected by thirteenth-century changes in law than these medievalists customarily have recognized.
(B) The realm of law labeled public by these medievalists ultimately had greater political implications than that labeled private.
(C) The amount of wealth controlled by medieval women was greater than these medievalists have recorded.
(D) The distinction made by these medievalists between private law and public law fails to consider some of the actual legal cases of the period.
(E) The distinction made by these medievalists between private and public law fails to address the political importance of control over land in the medieval era.

3 
 3. Which one of the following most accurately expresses the meaning of the word “sway” as it is used in line 60 of the passage?

(A) vacillation
(B) dominion
(C) predisposition
(D) inclination
(E) mediation

4 
 4. Which one of the following most accurately describes the function of the second paragraph of the passage?

(A) providing examples of specific historical events as support for the conclusion drawn in the third paragraph
(B) narrating a sequence of events whose outcome is discussed in the third paragraph
(C) explaining how circumstances described in the first paragraph could have occurred
(D) describing the effects of an event mentioned in the first paragraph
(E) evaluating the arguments of a group mentioned in the first paragraph

5 
 5. According to information in the passage, a widow in early thirteenth-century England could control more land than did her eldest son if

(A) the widow had been granted the customary amount of dower land and the eldest son inherited the rest of the land
(B) the widow had three daughters in addition to her eldest son
(C) the principle of primogeniture had been applied in transferring the lands owned by the widow’s late husband
(D) none of the lands held by the widow’s late husband had been placed in jointure
(E) the combined amount of land the widow had acquired from her own family and from dower was greater than the amount inherited by her son

6 
 6. Which one of the following is mentioned in the passage as a reason why a married woman might have fulfilled certain duties associated with holding feudal land in thirteenth-century England?

(A) the legal statutes set forth by Magna Carta
(B) the rights a woman held over her inheritance during her marriage
(C) the customary division of duties between husbands and wives
(D) the absence of the woman’s husband
(E) the terms specified by the woman’s jointure agreement

7 
 7. The phrase “in England” (lines 30–31) does which one of the following?

(A) It suggests that women in other countries also received grants of their husbands’ lands.
(B) It identifies a particular code of law affecting women who were surviving daughters.
(C) It demonstrates that dower had greater legal importance in one European country than in others.
(D) It emphasizes that women in one European country had more means of controlling property than did women in other European countries.
(E) It traces a legal term back to the time at which it entered the language.

8 
 8. The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) explain a legal controversy of the past in light of modern theory
(B) evaluate the economic and legal status of a particular historical group
(C) resolve a scholarly debate about legal history
(D) trace the historical origins of a modern economic situation
(E) provide new evidence about a historical event

kris19 · Accepted Answer

1. Which one of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage?

(A) The traditional view of medieval women as legally excluded from many public offices fails to consider thirteenth-century women in England who were exempted from such restrictions because of their wealth and social status.-  not correct, the entire passage is all about 13th century women, especially widows, who controlled land and exercised power. So this choice is opposite of what the passage says about 13th century women

(B) The economic independence of women in thirteenth-century England was primarily determined not by their marital status, but by their status as heirs to their parents’ estates -  not correct, I think this is a partial answer, 'as heirs to their parents' estates' happens only if no sons survived. But the passage is all about economic independence of widow women, and how did they acquire land

(C) The laws and customs of the feudal system in thirteenth-century England enabled some women to exercise a certain amount of power despite their legal exclusion from most public roles -  correct, first para says 'Although medieval women were legally excluded from roles, women’s control of land had important political implications in the feudal system', and in the second and third paras, more details are given to explain how some women - widows - exercised power

(D) During the thirteenth century in England, widows gained greater autonomy and legal rights to their property than they had had in previous centuries -  not correct, no comparison of autonomy and legal rights between two centuries

(E) Widows in thirteenth-century England were able to acquire and dispose of lands through a number of different legal processes -  not correct, I think this is partial answer as these details of acquiring lands are given in second para.  
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. With which one of the following statements about the views held by the medievalists mentioned in line 1 would the author of the passage most probably agree?

(A) The medieval role of landowner was less affected by thirteenth-century changes in law than these medievalists customarily have recognized -  not correct, there were some changes in law regarding landowner (In 1215 Magna Carta..), however there was no discussion of how medievalists have thought about these changes - whether these changes in law would help and worsen landowner's role

(B) The realm of law labeled public by these medievalists ultimately had greater political implications than that labeled private -  not correct, there is no such comparison between public law and private law. Medievalists categorised public law and private law, however this distinction when applied to women was overly simplistic, because, some women exercised power although excluded legally from such powers. So, we can't infer that public laws had greater political implications than private laws did.

(C) The amount of wealth controlled by medieval women was greater than these medievalists have recorded -  not correct, no discussion of how much wealth medieval women had as per medievalist records

(D) The distinction made by these medievalists between private law and public law fails to consider some of the actual legal cases of the period -  not correct, no discussion of solving actual legal cases of 13th century

(E) The distinction made by these medievalists between private and public law fails to address the political importance of control over land in the medieval era -  correct, the distinction made by these medievalists was when applied to women was overly simplistic. Here 'Overly simplistic' means, as per law, women didn't have official power (excluded from roles), but it reality, some women exercised power by holding land. So, we can say that the distinction fails to address the imp issue of controlling the land 
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Which one of the following most accurately expresses the meaning of the word “sway” as it is used in line 60 of the passage?
 passage says 'the scope of their sway is indicated by the fact that some controlled not merely single estates, but multiple counties', so I guess, these women controlled multiple counties or had power to control

(A) vacillation -  not correct, I don't know the meaning of it 
(B) dominion -  correct, control/power, which is close to my guess of the line 60 
(C) predisposition -  not correct, not close to my guess 
(D) inclination -  not correct, some women were not inclined to multiple counties, rather controlled them because 'married women fulfilled these duties as
deputies' 
(E) mediation -  not correct, as deputies, these women might be mediating, however their power/control to mediate extended to multiple counties. So, mediation is not correct meaning for 'sway' 
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. Which one of the following most accurately describes the function of the second paragraph of the passage?

(A) providing examples of specific historical events as support for the conclusion drawn in the third paragraph -  not correct, only two historical events - Magna Carta and After 1272 - are discussed. These events show how lands were transferred and how some women obtained those lands. Conclusion of the third para is these women exercised power using these lands, and supporting details are given in the same para. So, second para doesn't really support how women controlled the power. 
 
(B) narrating a sequence of events whose outcome is discussed in the third paragraph -  not correct, 'In 1215 Magna Carta guaranteed a widow’s right to claim her dower without paying a fine; this document also strengthened widows’ ability to control land by prohibiting forced remarriage' is an event, but the outcome of this event is not discussed in the third para

(C) explaining how circumstances described in the first paragraph could have occurred -  correct, circumstances described in the first para are 'women’s control of land had important political implications', and the second para gives details under what situations, these women could inherit the land and control it
 
(D) describing the effects of an event mentioned in the first paragraph -  not correct, I can't find any specific event in the first para 
(E) evaluating the arguments of a group mentioned in the first paragraph -  not correct, I don't think we are evaluating the arguments of medievalist 
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5. According to information in the passage, a widow in early thirteenth-century England could control more land than did her eldest son if

(A) the widow had been granted the customary amount of dower land and the eldest son inherited the rest of the land -  not correct 
(B) the widow had three daughters in addition to her eldest son -  not correct 
(C) the principle of primogeniture had been applied in transferring the lands owned by the widow’s late husband -  not correct 
(D) none of the lands held by the widow’s late husband had been placed in jointure -  not correct 
(E) the combined amount of land the widow had acquired from her own family and from dower was greater than the amount inherited by her son -  correct, 'Since many widows had inheritances as well as dowers, the amount of land the widow controlled could exceed that of her son or of other male heirs' 
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
6. Which one of the following is mentioned in the passage as a reason why a married woman might have fulfilled certain duties associated with holding feudal land in thirteenth-century England?

(A) the legal statutes set forth by Magna Carta -  not correct, Magna Carta is connected to transferring the land, not fulfilling certain duties 
(B) the rights a woman held over her inheritance during her marriage -  not correct, no discussion of rights of a women to fulfil certain duties 
(C) the customary division of duties between husbands and wives -  not correct, no such discussion on customary division 
(D) the absence of the woman’s husband -  correct, passage says 'Many married women fulfilled these duties as deputies for husbands away at court or at war, but widows could act on their own behalf' 
(E) the terms specified by the woman’s jointure agreement -  not correct, no discussion of specific terms  
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
7. The phrase “in England” (lines 30–31) does which one of the following?

(A) It suggests that women in other countries also received grants of their husbands’ lands -  correct, passage says 'a widow was entitled to use of one-third
(30) of her late husband’s lands. Called “dower” in England', so we can infer that such grants were present in other countries and in England it is called as 'dower', otherwise, it would have been called with the same name used in other countries

(B) It identifies a particular code of law affecting women who were surviving daughters -  not correct, this 'dower' is connected to 'widow', not specifically to surviving daughter 
(C) It demonstrates that dower had greater legal importance in one European country than in others -  not correct, no such comparison 
(D) It emphasizes that women in one European country had more means of controlling property than did women in other European countries -  not correct, again no such comparison 
(E) It traces a legal term back to the time at which it entered the language -  not correct, again no such mention of entering the legal book 
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
8. The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) explain a legal controversy of the past in light of modern theory -  not correct, no controversy is discussed 
(B) evaluate the economic and legal status of a particular historical group -  correct, a particular historical group is women in this passage, and we discussed about their economic and legal status under public laws and private laws

(C) resolve a scholarly debate about legal history -  not correct, not resolved any debate in this passage 
(D) trace the historical origins of a modern economic situation -  not correct, no discussion of modern economic situation 
(E) provide new evidence about a historical event -  not correct, no discussion of new evidence

SiffyB · Answer

I took a total of 12 minutes 4 seconds to read the passage and answer all the questions. I got 7/8 correct. 
I feel the difficulty level of this question wasn't very high but the passage was very lengthy and time consuming.

(05:07) 
 1. Which one of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage?
 
(A) The traditional view of medieval women as legally excluded from many public offices fails to consider thirteenth-century women in England who were exempted from such restrictions because of their wealth and social status.
(B) The economic independence of women in thirteenth-century England was primarily determined not by their marital status, but by their status as heirs to their parents’ estates.
  (C) The laws and customs of the feudal system in thirteenth-century England enabled some women to exercise a certain amount of power despite their legal exclusion from most public roles. 
 (D) During the thirteenth century in England, widows gained greater autonomy and legal rights to their property than they had had in previous centuries.
(E) Widows in thirteenth-century England were able to acquire and dispose of lands through a number of different legal processes.

The first passage states that the distinction made by Medievalists was over simplistic as it did not take into account the scenario where women (read: widows) could own land which meant power (political power). They segregated public and private laws but did not consider the case in which the two intermingled. This is precisely what option (C) talks about. Because the widows owned land, they could exercise power, even though they did not partake in public roles. Thus, option C is the correct answer.

(02:27)
  2. With which one of the following statements about the views held by the medievalists mentioned in line 1 would the author of the passage most probably agree?
 
(A) The medieval role of landowner was less affected by thirteenth-century changes in law than these medievalists customarily have recognized.
(B) The realm of law labeled public by these medievalists ultimately had greater political implications than that labeled private.
(C) The amount of wealth controlled by medieval women was greater than these medievalists have recorded.
(D) The distinction made by these medievalists between private law and public law fails to consider some of the actual legal cases of the period.
  (E) The distinction made by these medievalists between private and public law fails to address the political importance of control over land in the medieval era.

As discussed in the solution to ques 1, the distinction does not address the political influence of the control over land that the widows owned. This is suggested in option E. Let us check where the othe roptions went wrong:
(A) The passage talks about widows as landowners and not the general term 'landowners' which is a superset of windows, men, boys, girls, married women, etc. This option is too general and also the affect of these change in laws is not discussed.
(B) This again is not explicitly stated in the passage. One would normally assume that governments would exercise more political influence than normal people, however, for lack of evidence to second this stance, we have to strike this option off.
(C) The discrepancy between what the women owned versus what the medievalisst thought is not stated in the passage. This is an easy choice to eliminate.
(D) The distinction does fail at something; however, that something is not the actual legal cases. To understand more about this distinction, refer to the solution of ques 1.

Thus, option E is the correct answer.

(00:42)
  3. Which one of the following most accurately expresses the meaning of the word “sway” as it is used in line 60 of the passage?
 
(A) vacillation
  (B) dominion 
 (C) predisposition
(D) inclination
(E) mediation

Upon reading the last sentence, I saw that I could easily eliminate (C), (D) and (E) becasue these words are relatively simpler. I was stuck between (A) and (B). I had no idea was vacillation meant and definitely could not infer its meaning from the word itself. So I focussed my attention on option B. Dominion sounded familia : almost like dominance which could be equated to power/supremacy. This is what led me to select option B. (even though I wasn't sure of the meaning of B either) In questions such as these, try to think of similar words that you know the meaning of. This might help you take an informed guess, instead of choosing whatever comes to your mind first.

(03:00)
 4. Which one of the following most accurately describes the function of the second paragraph of the passage?
 
(A) providing examples of specific historical events as support for the conclusion drawn in the third paragraph
(B) narrating a sequence of events whose outcome is discussed in the third paragraph
(C) explaining how circumstances described in the first paragraph could have occurred
(D) describing the effects of an event mentioned in the first paragraph
(E) evaluating the arguments of a group mentioned in the first paragraph

I must say this was a rather tricky question. After much contemplation, I narrowed down to (B) and (C), but ended up choosing the incorrect choice. There wasn't much of an option for me because I thought that both options made sense.

(00:33)
 5. According to information in the passage, a widow in early thirteenth-century England could control more land than did her eldest son if
 
(A) the widow had been granted the customary amount of dower land and the eldest son inherited the rest of the land
(B) the widow had three daughters in addition to her eldest son
(C) the principle of primogeniture had been applied in transferring the lands owned by the widow’s late husband
(D) none of the lands held by the widow’s late husband had been placed in jointure
  (E) the combined amount of land the widow had acquired from her own family and from dower was greater than the amount inherited by her son

This is a very straightforward question. If you understood the passage well, you know that the widows have two sources of their income, namely, inherited money (from parents or guardians) and dower (from late husband). If the sum of these two amounts is greater than the sum that the son would inherit, the wealth of his mother has to be more than him.

(00:20) 
 6. Which one of the following is mentioned in the passage as a reason why a married woman might have fulfilled certain duties associated with holding feudal land in thirteenth-century England?
 
(A) the legal statutes set forth by Magna Carta
(B) the rights a woman held over her inheritance during her marriage
(C) the customary division of duties between husbands and wives
  (D) the absence of the woman’s husband 
 (E) the terms specified by the woman’s jointure agreement

This is also lifted from information given directly in the passage. Refer to this sentence from the final paragraph: "Many married women fulfilled these duties as deputies for husbands away at court or at war..".

(00:30)
  7. The phrase “in England” (lines 30–31) does which one of the following?
 
  (A) It suggests that women in other countries also received grants of their husbands’ lands. 
 (B) It identifies a particular code of law affecting women who were surviving daughters.
(C) It demonstrates that dower had greater legal importance in one European country than in others.
(D) It emphasizes that women in one European country had more means of controlling property than did women in other European countries.
(E) It traces a legal term back to the time at which it entered the language.

Saying that this grant was called dower in England meant that is form of grant exists in other parts of the world, maybe known by other names.

(00:45)
  8. The primary purpose of the passage is to
 
(A) explain a legal controversy of the past in light of modern theory
  (B) evaluate the economic and legal status of a particular historical group 
 (C) resolve a scholarly debate about legal history
(D) trace the historical origins of a modern economic situation
(E) provide new evidence about a historical event

The whole passage talks exclusively about the widows. so any option that says otherwise can be immediately ousted. 
(A) is out because no modern theory is stated in the passage. Whatever the author talks about has taken place in the past. She makes no connection between the past and the current scenario. Also, there is nothing "controversial" discussed in the passage.
(B) This is the correct choice. Here historical group = widows
(C) There is no debate that the author resolves.
(D) Again, no link between historical and modern situation has been made.
(E) No new evidence discussed.

deveshj21 · Answer

Sajjad1994   nightblade354   AjiteshArun 
Dear Experts,
would love to hear your thoughts on Q4. C was not even in my list, moreover what would be a good reason to eliminate B and A?
Thanks in advance

Sajjad1994 · Answer

(A)  is wrong because the historical events mentioned in  paragraph 2  (Magna Carta, and the 1272 jointure law) only serve to further the claim made earlier on—that women were able to control land. These events are not directly tied to the points made in the  final paragraph  regarding the kinds of influence that resulted from such land ownership.

(B)  is not fir because the information in the  second paragraph  can’t be said to truly represent a sequence of events. Even though the years 1215 and 1272 are mentioned, we can’t infer that the customs and events described in this paragraph are listed so as to form a sequence that leads to a particular result in the following paragraph. Just because women were able to acquire land doesn’t mean that this must inevitably lead to the use of the wealth conferred by the land as discussed in  paragraph 3 .

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

7. The phrase “in England” (lines 30–31) does which one of the following?

Explanation

A question about a prepositional phrase? Sounds crazy, no? But everything has a purpose this test, and for whatever reason it’s the purpose of that wee phrase  “in England”  that is the topic at hand. It appears in  Paragraph 2 , which we recall is about how the medieval woman, especially the widow, was able to get her hands on property through the custom of granting her  “dower,”  equivalent to 1/3 of the deceased husband’s land.

Now: Consider how the sentence in question would read with the phrase  “in England”  missing:  “Called ‘dower,’ this grant had greater legal importance . . .”  etc. That meaning is clear: There was one and only one name for the grant, and it’s  “dower.”  Therefore, the only conceivable reason the author could have for inserting  “in England”  is if the grant existed in countries other than England, but was called something different there. Without that implication, the insertion of  “in England”  is superfluous. So  (A)  is the purpose that the phrase achieves.

(B)  at best describes the purpose of the word  “dower”  (if in fact dower qualifies as a “code of law,” which isn’t at all clear). But what’s it got to do with England?

(C)  That the author confines his discussion of dower to England may imply that dower was more important there than elsewhere. But the mere use of the phrase  “in England”  doesn’t make that implication.

(D) ’s comparison of more vs. fewer means of controlling property, in England vs. elsewhere, is not apt, given that the overall context in  lines 26-34  has to do with widows’ rights generally. The only comparison made, and it’s an implicit one, is described by correct  choice (A).

(E)  would probably be O.K. if the text ran  “First called ‘dower’ in 1178,”  and the question asked for the purpose of the phrase  “in 1178.”  But as is,  (E)  is irrelevant.

Answer: A

Medievalists usually distinguished medieval public law from private la

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Reading Comprehension (RC) Questions

Medievalists usually distinguished medieval public law from private la

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards