PrepTest 154, Section 3, Question 26
In the absence of international statutes prohibiting nations(426 more words not shown)
The author's mention of harmful(13 more words not shown)
- Aan example of(16 more words not shown)
- Ba means of(11 more words not shown)
- Cevidence offered by(18 more words not shown)
- Dan acknowledgment that,(21 more words not shown)
- Esupport for the(20 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
Why mention pollutants crossing borders? We have just been told that a principle counts as customary law only if nations follow it in practice. The continued pollution, combined with rare attempts at a remedy, supplies evidence that the supposed environmental norms fail that test.
What we’re looking for
Follow the connection: professed principle, contrary conduct, failure to satisfy the criterion for a genuine custom.
Working the answers
- A
Environmental issues are already the subject of the scholars' debates. The example challenges their reliance on professed standards, not a failure to pay enough attention to the environment.
- B
The author isn't using this example to call for stronger enforcement of existing laws. Its immediate job is to test whether the principles being discussed qualify as customary norms at all.
- C
The pollutants are evidence against compliance with the professed principles, not evidence that treaties and negotiations are ineffective. The final paragraph favors studying those agreements.
- D
The point isn't merely to acknowledge that the scholars have legitimate environmental concerns. The example shows that nations' conduct conflicts with the principles the scholars treat as customary.
- ECorrect
The criterion is customary compliance in actual practice. Continual pollution across borders is behavior inconsistent with preventing transboundary harm, and rare attempts to remedy it deepen that mismatch. This supports the author's claim that the principles haven't earned the customary-law classification.
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