#7 - Specific Reference, Must Be True, Author's Perspective

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (E).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice.

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[LSAT2018]

I would just like to clarify some points made in this question. In saying that 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, does it mean that they distinguished public law from private law, they did not take into account the political importance (public law) of control over land (private law), which means that they overlap in some way and should not be completely separated?

[HowardQ]

Hi,

I have a question too about this question. I chose D instead of E since I thought some legal cases included the control over land in the medieval era. If this is the case. Did I miss interpret the answers? or we should have chosen the most specific answer.

[Jonathan Evans]

Hi, LSAT2018 and Howard,

Good questions! The answer choice we're looking for includes a statement about the medievalists' view with which the author would most likely agree. Let's find our evidence and come up with a solid prephrase. The medievalists' view is expressed at the beginning of the passage. How could we describe the medievalists' view?

• The medievalists distinguish between public and private law.

What does the author think about this viewpoint?

• The author disagrees with this viewpoint.

How or to what extent does the author disagree with this viewpoint?

• The author claims that this distinction between public and private law is too rigid or simplistic (line 5). The case of medieval women landowners illustrates an area of overlap between "private law" and "public law" since this land ownership (private) had important political implications (public) (lines 7-14).

While answer choice (D) could be true, we have no evidence referring to specific legal cases. This is unsupported by the text. Answer choice (E) cites the overlap between private and public law in land ownership, about which we have evidence in lines 7-14 of the text.

Does this help clarify this question? Thanks for the good questions!

[HowardQ]

Hi, LSAT2018 and Howard,

Good questions! The answer choice we're looking for includes a statement about the medievalists' view with which the author would most likely agree. Let's find our evidence and come up with a solid prephrase. The medievalists' view is expressed at the beginning of the passage. How could we describe the medievalists' view?

• The medievalists distinguish between public and private law.

What does the author think about this viewpoint?

• The author disagrees with this viewpoint.

How or to what extent does the author disagree with this viewpoint?

• The author claims that this distinction between public and private law is too rigid or simplistic (line 5). The case of medieval women landowners illustrates an area of overlap between "private law" and "public law" since this land ownership (private) had important political implications (public) (lines 7-14).

While answer choice (D) could be true, we have no evidence referring to specific legal cases. This is unsupported by the text. Answer choice (E) cites the overlap between private and public law in land ownership, about which we have evidence in lines 7-14 of the text.

Does this help clarify this question? Thanks for the good questions!

Thanks, Johnathan,

It does make sense. So these type of questions, we should look for direct answers instead of a generalization or paraphrased answer that we interpret and remember from reading the passage.