Reading ComprehensionDifficulty: Hard

PT101 S4 P2 Q10 Explanation

Native American Burials

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TopicsInferenceLaw

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Passage

Many Native Americans view the archaeological excavation and museum display of ancestral skeletal remains and items buried with them as a spiritual desecration. A number of legal remedies that either prohibit or regulate such activities may be available to Native American communities, if they can establish standing in such cases. In disinterment however, common law may provide a basis for some Native American claims against archaeologists and museums.

Property law, for example, can be useful in establishing Native American claims to artifacts that are retrieved in the excavation of ancient graves and can be considered the communal property of Native American tribes or communities. In Charrier v. Bell, a United States appellate court ruled that the common law doctrine of graves should be returned to representatives of tribal groups who can establish standing in such cases.

More generally, United States courts have upheld the distinction between individual and communal property, holding that an individual Native American does not have title to communal property owned and held for common use by his or her tribe. As a result, museums cannot assume that they have valid title to cultural property in good faith by an individual member of a Native American community.

What this question is testing

Inference

Your task

Find what must be true based on what the passage or stimulus states.

Common trap

Answers that are plausible or likely but not actually guaranteed by the text.

Winning move

Keep only the choice the statements fully support — eliminate anything that requires an extra assumption.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question
10.

It can be inferred that a court would be most likely to deny standing in a disinterment case to which one of the

Answer choices

  1. Opposite3% picked this

    one who seeks, as one of several beneficiaries of his father’s estate, to protect the

    This presents one of the four cases where standing traditionally is granted, since it involves an heir to an estate. 1. you're the heir of the deceased 2. you own the property on which the grave is located 3. you are a party (such as an organization or distant relative) that has a clear interest in the preservation of a particular grave 4. the grave is of recent origin and associated with an identifiable Native American community

  2. Opposite4% picked this

    one who seeks to prevent tenants on her land from taking artifacts from a grave

    This presents one of the four cases where standing traditionally is granted, since it involves a landowner. 1. you're the heir of the deceased 2. you own the property on which the grave is located 3. you are a party (such as an organization or distant relative) that has a clear interest in the preservation of a particular grave 4. the grave is of recent origin and associated with an identifiable Native American community

  3. Opposite19% picked this

    one who represents a tribe whose members hope to prevent the disinterment of remains from a distant location from

    This doesn't quite present one of the four cases where standing is traditionally affirmed, but since the tribe recently moved from the location where the remains are buried, it matches up somewhat with the fourth case. 1. you're the heir of the deceased 2. you own the property on which the grave is located 3. you are a party (such as an organization or distant relative) that has a clear interest in the preservation of a particular grave 4. the grave is of recent origin and associated with an identifiable Native American community

  4. Opposite5% picked this

    one who seeks to have artifacts that have been removed from a grave determined to be that of her second

    This presents one of the four cases where standing traditionally is granted, since it involves a 2nd cousin. 1. you're the heir of the deceased 2. you own the property on which the grave is located 3. you are a party (such as an organization or distant relative) that has a clear interest in the preservation of a particular grave 4. the grave is of recent origin and associated with an identifiable Native American community

  5. Correct69% picked this

    one who seeks the return of artifacts taken from the ancient burial grounds of disparate tribes and now

    Why this is right

    This sounds the most like what we were looking for: - ancient grave - located in an area where the community of Native Americans associated has not recently lived This is an ancient grave, and the burial grounds were used for a bunch of different tribes, so it isn't likely that this land is "associated with an identifiable Native American community". The person seeking to re-claim these artifacts from the museum doesn't seem to be an heir or a distant relative. And these remains aren't found on their land (they are in a museum).

    Skill tested: Inference · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

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