Reading Comprehension

PT131 · S4 · P2 · Q13 Statutory Law

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A proficiency in understanding, applying, and even formulating statutes—the actual texts of laws enacted by legislative bodies—is a vital aspect of the practice of law, but statutory law is often given too little attention by law schools.

Topic

Statutory law and why law schools should emphasize it more in legal education.

Framework

Challenge Position (the author pushes back against the way most law schools under-emphasize statutory law)

Main Point

Law schools focus too much on judicial decisions and case analysis, often neglecting statutory law, but developing skills related to statutes is essential for legal practice, making statutory law a crucial part of legal education even if statutes differ regionally. (The Most Valuable Sentence for the main point appears at the end of the first paragraph and is fleshed out in the final sentence of the passage.)

P1: Law School’s Emphasis on Judicial Decisions

Many law schools tend to focus their teaching on analyzing past court cases, which can give students the wrong impression that legal practice is mostly about interpreting case law rather than directly using or understanding statutes (laws written by legislatures).

P2: The Importance of Statutes in Legal Practice

In real legal work, lawyers often need to consult statutes directly to answer clients’ questions, and while sometimes using statutes is straightforward, accurately interpreting them when things aren’t clear is a vital legal skill.

P3: Teaching Statutory Law Develops Synthesis Skills

Teaching statutory law helps students become better at seeing how different laws fit together as a whole, rather than just analyzing one case at a time—a valuable ability, especially since most law students eventually specialize.

13.

Which one of the following questions can be most clearly and directly answered by reference to information in the passage?

What are some ways in
Inverse Bait
The beginning of the 3rd paragraph suggests that analyzing cases doesn't strengthen or encourage a student's skill at synthesis. The author is presenting case law as the thing law schools are currently fixated on, and saying, "If we started more teaching statutory law instead, then it would help students develop their skill of synthesis". Synthesis is the idea of bringing things together, and the author is saying "In contrast (to case law), the study of all the statutes of a legal system in a certain small area of the law would enable the student to see how these laws form a coherent whole."
4% picked this
In which areas of legal
Inverse Bait
The author tells us at the end of the 3rd paragraph why learning statutory law could be more valuable than proficiency in case law. She never gives a specific area where learning case law would be more valuable than statutory law.
2% picked this
What skills are common to
Unsupported Comparison
The only skills we hear about studying statutory law are "accurate interpretation of the statutes' meanings and applicability" and "synthesis". We only hear about "judicial decisions" in the second sentence of the passage, where the author says law school currently focuses on those and analysis of cases, rather than on statutory law. We're never told that studying judicial decisions involves improving the skill of synthesis or of accurate interpretation of statutes' meanings.
4% picked this
What are some objections that
Too Specific: regionally oriented law schools
The only objection raised against studying statutes is that "it could seem to be an inappropriate investment of time and resources (if you're not planning to practice law in that region, because) a particular region's statutory law is not generally transferable to other regions." This objection is targeted at law schools with a national orientation. Why would I go to Harvard and bother learning the regional statutory law of Massachusetts if most of that isn't going to transfer to Los Angeles, where I plan to practice? But this objection isn't relevant to regionally oriented law schools. Those law schools are prepping students who plan to practice law in that particular region. The passage presents the practice of teaching statutory law as something that is already done at regionally oriented schools, without controversy. The author is saying that statutory law should be taught at all law schools, and the objection in the final paragraph is about whether it would make sense to teach it at a nationally oriented school.
25% picked this
Correct
What is the primary focus
Why this is right
The primary focus is "Judicial decisions and analysis of cases", according to the second sentence of the passage. It doesn't actually say most law schools, but the first two sentences are speaking in generalizations about law schools, which implies it's speaking about most of them. This question stem isn't in a Must Be True style like most "Five Questions" problems. Those usually say "the information in the passage is sufficient to answer which question?" This stem says "most clearly and directly answered", so we're allowed to be a little fuzzy with language. The overall passage is complaining that law schools focus on analyzing cases, to the detriment of sufficiently covering statutory law.
Skill tested: Five Questions · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
66% picked this

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