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Explanation

4. It can be inferred from the passage that Peter Goodrich would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements concerning common law?

Difficulty Level: Hard

Explanation

Goodrich’s opinion about common law takes up the entire third paragraph. First, he states that it should be studied as a continually developing tradition, not a set of rules. Then he mentions how common law is like a “text” that develops throughout history. He finishes by saying how common law will continuously adapt to contemporary legal circumstances. We need to find an answer that fits any or all of these sentiments.

(A) Saying that common law is a relic suggests that it’s no longer relevant—not an opinion implied by Goodrich.

(B) Again, Goodrich never suggests that common law has degenerated, but rather that it has adapted to contemporary circumstances. No good.

(C) Opposite. This is the political reason for ignoring the common law’s historical evolution, reasoning that Goodrich does not agree with.

(D) Opposite. Goodrich uses a literary model in his analysis, but feels that common law does adapt and is applicable to modern life.

(E) Since common law is continually developing, Goodrich would certainly feel that it will be a little different in the future. This is the correct answer.

Answer: E

This is not the Official explanation rather it belongs to Kaplan LSAT
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Hello GMAT Ninja, can you reply to 7th question, As I understand, there is no discussion about accuracy, and I prefer the overemphasis on the practical option.

Thanks
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Question 7


VECHAMSRIRAM
Hello GMAT Ninja, can you reply to 7th question, As I understand, there is no discussion about accuracy, and I prefer the overemphasis on the practical option.

Thanks
In the first paragraph, the author argues that "common law cannot properly be understood without taking a long historical view." He/she provides a bunch of examples of how history has impacted the law. So, from his/her point of view, to accurately understand common law, you need to look at history.

In the second paragraph, the author complains that academic theories do not look at history: "Yet the academic study of jurisprudence has seldom treated common law as a constantly evolving phenomenon rooted in history; those interpretive theories that do acknowledge the antiquity of common law ignore the practical contemporary significance of its historical forms."

So, modern academic theories do not take the long historical view. To the author, missing out on the essential element of history makes them less accurate in understanding the law.

(B) is the correct answer to question 7.

Here's (C):

Quote:
They overemphasize the practical aspects of the common law at the expense of the theoretical.
In the same piece of the passage quoted above, the author complains that modern academic theories "IGNORE the practical contemporary significance of [common law's] historical forms." So, if anything, the author would think the opposite of the info in (C) -- modern academic theories don't focus enough on the practical aspects of common law.

(C) is out.

I hope that helps!
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Hi from Nepal,

Damn! I got it all right. i have no idea how but i did. took me 15-20 minutes. Here's my reasoning.

1. A is wrong because it's not the main idea. D is just very appropriate.
2. I was thinking of either A or D, but clearly it doesn't overlook the order and coherence because we do not know if it has order and coherence, only that it needs to transform with time - ever evolving, which is what modern jurisprudence is missing; realizing that it needs transformation rather than neglecting it. so A is correct because "misinterprets".
3. I was wondering if there was something in D because of "social repercussions" because the passage mentions "practical contemporary significance, but those two are not synonymous. The reason I didn't discard D right away even after seeing "comparison" and "German" is because we don't know much about the interpretive text. so C is clearly the winner. It's literally an analogy of whatever the passage said.
4. i felt this was way too easy. i don't even need to explain. Goodrich only talks about transformation.
5. "the prestige of the legal institution requires that jurisprudence". This line just sold me D
6. weirdly the difficulty level is 5%, i took my time here. A and C is out because of the word politics. D is out because of the word "Roman", and E is clearly out. and B in this light defines itself more clearly.
7. its a clear winner for me. Transforming is what the author's POV is, so they definitely lack an essential dimension.
8. though A is a clear winner for me, I can see how D can be hard to negate. But in my opinion, D is wrong because we don't really contrast. We just talk about one aspect that's being overlooked and neglected.

I am sure there are many faults in my reasoning. This is just to show my thinking process. and I would love people to point out the errors in my logic even if I managed to get the answers right. The only problem I have is this took a lot of time. A bit of going back to passages.

Thanks to GMATNinja because i have only watched their videos and nothing else. Just followed their process which is not mechanical at all. What I love about them is they provide a structured process without giving a formulaic hack. Just like how art should be learned :)
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Can you please explain Q2, 4 and 8 solutions
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2. It can be inferred that the author of the passage believes which one of the following about the history of law in relation to modern jurisprudence?

The author argues that common law is deeply rooted in history and constantly evolves, while mainstream jurisprudence tends to treat it as a fixed, logical system of rules. The key criticism is that modern jurisprudence therefore misunderstands the true nature of the legal tradition.

(A) Modern jurisprudence misinterprets the nature of the legal tradition.

Correct. Modern jurisprudence treats law as unified and logically coherent, while the passage presents common law as historically evolving, nonunitary, and shaped by tradition.

(B) The history of law proves the original forms of common law to be antiquated and irrelevant to modern jurisprudence.

Incorrect. The passage says historical forms remain important for understanding contemporary common law.

(C) The history of law, if it is to be made applicable to modern jurisprudence, is best studied as a system of rules rather than as a literary text.

Incorrect. This is the opposite of the view presented favorably through Goodrich. He argues that common law is better understood as a developing tradition than as a fixed system of rules.

(D) Mainstream theories of modern jurisprudence overlook the order and coherence inherent in legal history.

Incorrect. The passage says legal history is actually far from unitary and seldom logical. Modern jurisprudence imposes an image of order and coherence on it.

(E) Mainstream theories of modern jurisprudence, by and large devoid of a sense of legal history, are unnecessarily dispiriting to students and the public alike.

Incorrect. The passage says presenting law as less logical and orderly might be dispiriting to students and the public. It does not say mainstream jurisprudence itself is dispiriting.

Answer: (A)
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4. It can be inferred from the passage that Peter Goodrich would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements concerning common law?

Goodrich views common law as a continually developing tradition, not as a fixed set of rules. Because each generation adapts inherited legal forms to current circumstances, the common law passed to future generations will not be identical to the common law of today.

(A) Common law is more fruitfully studied as a relic of the history of the English people than as a legal code.

Incorrect. Goodrich sees common law as an evolving tradition with contemporary significance, not merely as a historical relic.

(B) The “text” of common law has degenerated from an early stage of clarity to a current state of incoherence.

Incorrect. The passage says nothing about common law becoming less coherent over time.

(C) Without the public’s belief in the justness of common law, the legal system cannot be perpetuated.

Incorrect. This idea appears in the discussion of the political reasons modern jurisprudence emphasizes legal coherence, not in Goodrich’s view.

(D) While rich in literary significance, the “text” of common law has only a very limited applicability to modern life.

Incorrect. Goodrich specifically emphasizes that tradition is continuously adapted to contemporary legal circumstances.

(E) The common law “text” inherited by future generations will differ from the one currently in use.

Correct. Goodrich says tradition involves not only preserving existing forms but also continuously rewriting them to fit contemporary circumstances. Therefore, future generations will inherit a changed version of common law.

Answer: (E)
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8. The primary purpose of the passage is to

The passage presents a paradox: common law is deeply rooted in history, yet modern jurisprudence largely studies it without a historical perspective. It then introduces Goodrich’s alternative view, which treats common law as an evolving historical tradition.

(A) explain a paradoxical situation and discuss a new view of the situation

Correct. The paradox is that common law cannot properly be understood without history, yet jurisprudence generally deemphasizes history. The passage then discusses Goodrich’s new approach.

(B) supply a chronological summary of the history of an idea

Incorrect. The passage does not trace an idea through different historical periods.

(C) trace the ideas of an influential theorist and evaluate the theorist’s ongoing work

Incorrect. Goodrich appears only in the final paragraph, and the passage does not evaluate his ongoing work.

(D) contrast the legal theories of past eras with those of today and suggest how these theories should be studied

Incorrect. The passage contrasts modern jurisprudence with a historical approach, not past legal theories with present ones.

(E) advocate a traditional school of thought while criticizing a new trend

Incorrect. The passage does the opposite: it criticizes the established approach of modern jurisprudence and presents Goodrich’s alternative.

Answer: (A)
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Hi officiisimpedit,

Q2 (A)

The line to anchor on opens paragraph 2: "those interpretive theories that do acknowledge the antiquity of common law ignore the practical contemporary significance of its historical forms." Modern jurisprudence treats law as a tidy logical system when the history is "far from unitary and seldom logical." It gets the tradition wrong, which is what (A) says.

(D) runs backwards. The author does not say legal history has an order that jurisprudence misses, he says jurisprudence imposes order on a history that is actually messy. (E) borrows "dispiriting" from the political reason for hiding that mess, not from any claim about the theories themselves.

Q4 (E)

Goodrich sits entirely in paragraph 3, and the clinching phrase is tradition as "the continuous rewriting of those forms to adapt them to contemporary legal circumstances." Continuous rewriting means the text future generations inherit differs from today's, which is (E).

(A) calls it a relic, the opposite of living and evolving. (D) gives it limited applicability to modern life, again the opposite of adapting to contemporary circumstances.

Q8 (A)

Follow the structure. Paragraph 1: common law is soaked in history. Paragraph 2: yet jurisprudence has "seldom treated common law as a constantly evolving phenomenon rooted in history." Deeply historical but studied as though it were not, that is the paradox. Paragraph 3 offers Goodrich's alternative. Explain a paradox, then discuss a new view of it, which is (A).

(D) fails because there is no head-to-head contrast between past-era theories and today's.

Answer: A; E; A

officiisimpedit
Can you please explain Q2, 4 and 8 solutions
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