PrepTest 112, Section 2, Question 26

Author's OpinionDifficulty1 of 5
Passage 4South Africa’s transition to a rights-based legal system
The questionFull text in your LawHub copy of PrepTest 112

With the elimination of the apartheid system, South(478 more words not shown)

Based on the passage, the(19 more words not shown)

Reading the passage

Which scholars are these? The ones warning judges not to borrow foreign interpretations blindly. They're worried that the circumstances behind a decision elsewhere might not apply in South Africa.

What we’re looking for

But they're also hopeful that international experience can help. Our prediction should preserve that qualified support: learn from other countries, while checking whether their reasoning fits South Africa's circumstances.

Working the answers

  • A
    Correct

    This restates the warning against ignoring the local conditions behind foreign rulings (paragraph 2). Tempering reliance means using that guidance with caution, not rejecting it. A foreign interpretation might be useful, but judges need to consider the context before relying on it.

  • B

    This combines two separate issues. The scholars warn about applying foreign law without its context. Citizens' mistrust appears in the last paragraph, and we aren't told these scholars think foreign interpretations will make it worse.

  • C

    Difficult doesn't mean impossible. The scholars are hopeful that careful use of international experience can help build suitable precedents; they aren't predicting that correct interpretation cannot be achieved.

  • D

    “Unacceptable” contradicts their qualified support. They object to blindly following foreign interpretations, not to learning from them at all.

  • E

    We aren't given a comparison showing that other countries' bills of rights use less general wording. More importantly, the scholars think foreign interpretations can help if used carefully. Their warning about different circumstances doesn't support this broader rejection.

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