PrepTest 107, Section 2, Question 22
Until about 1970, anyone who wanted to write(430 more words not shown)
It can be inferred from(24 more words not shown)
- AThey are adequate(14 more words not shown)
- BThey are to(13 more words not shown)
- CThey lack fundamental(10 more words not shown)
- DThey provide relatively(18 more words not shown)
- EThey are valuable(22 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
Which sources? The treatises, commentaries, and statutes used by the nineteenth-century historians. These tell us what laws were intended or thought to do. They don't adequately show what happened when women tried to exercise their rights. Our answer should capture that limitation.
Working the answers
- A
These sources might serve some research purposes, but general adequacy isn't established. The writer identifies important questions about women's treatment that they can't answer.
- B
Being easier to use doesn't make them preferable. Court records are called “of vital importance” to learning the actual effects, even though working with them is difficult.
- C
Their relevance to modern legal institutions isn't assessed. A source could help trace a modern institution's history while saying little about women's experiences under medieval law.
- DCorrect
They are “of little help” in answering questions about women's actual treatment. The writer calls the missing research a “serious deficiency,” which explains the stronger wording about what historians ought most to investigate. We aren't just looking for legal intentions; the priority is discovering what happened in practice.
- E
The sources aren't useless: they provide intentions and opinions. But this answer credits them with answers to the questions of greatest interest to women's legal historians. The discussion emphasizes how little they tell us about the practical experiences that need investigation.
More Author's Opinion questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Author's Opinion questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.