Reading ComprehensionDifficulty: Easy

PT141 S1 P4 Q25 Explanation

Rectification of Past Property Injustice

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Reading Comprehension question.

TopicsAnalogyLaw

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Passage

Passage

There are two principles that are fundamental to a theory of justice regarding property. The principle of justice in acquisition specifies the conditions under which someone can legitimately come to own something that was previously not owned by anyone. The principle of justice in of property from one person to another is justified.

Given such principles, if the world were wholly just, the following definition would exhaustively cover the regarding property:

1. A person who acquires property in accordance with the principle of justice in acquisition that property.

2. A person who acquires property in accordance with the principle of justice in transfer, from someone else who is entitled entitled to the property.

3. No one is entitled to any property except by (repeated) applications and 2.

However, not all actual situations are generated in accordance with the principles of justice in acquisition and justice in transfer. Some people steal from others or defraud them, for example. The existence of past injustice raises the issue of the rectification of injustice. If past injustice has shaped present ownership in various should have resulted. Actual ownership of property must then be brought into conformity with this description.

Passage

In 1790, the United States Congress passed the Indian Nonintercourse Act, which requires that all transfers of lands from Native Americans to others be approved by the federal government. The law has not been changed in any relevant respect, and it remains in effect today. Its purpose is clear. It was meant tribes for recovery of lands held by them when the Nonintercourse Act took effect.

One natural (one might almost say obvious) way of reasoning about Native American claims to land in North America is this: Native Americans were the first human occupants of this land. Before the European invasion of North America, the land belonged to them. In the course of that invasion and its aftermath, easily be righted by returning the land to them—or by returning it wherever that is feasible.

What this question is testing

Analogy

Your task

Pin down exactly what the question asks about the passage — a detail, the author's view, the structure, or the main point — before looking at the choices.

Common trap

Answers that restate a true detail from the passage but don't answer the specific question being asked.

Winning move

Anticipate the answer in your own words from the passage, then find the choice that matches that prediction.

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

The question
25.

Based on what can be inferred from their titles, the relationship between which one of the following pairs of documents is most analogous to the relationship between

Answer choices

  1. Specific vs. General is Reversed7% picked this

    "Card Counting for Everyone: A Can't-Lose System for Beating

    "The Evils of

    Passage A's title isn't amazing, but discussing "a system" aligns with Passage A's system of property justice well enough. But in this pair of titles, Passage B has a broader topic. Passage A is focused on one small tidbit of gambling: trying to count cards to beat the dealer in blackjack. Passage B is focused on gambling as a whole. We want the opposite sort of relationship. We think A's title should reflect a more general focus than B's.

  2. Equal Specificity / Too Adversarial4% picked this

    "Mayor McConnell Is Unfit to

    "Why Mayor McConnell Should be

    This doesn't scratch our itch from General vs. Specific, because these are equally specific. And since these two titles really indicate a point / counterpoint relationship, they make it seem like Passage A and B were opposed to each other's main points, which seems far off. Both A and B seemed to recognize past injustices in relation to property and to desire a rectification of that injustice.

  3. Unclear Relationship5% picked this

    "Pruning Fruit Trees: A Guide for

    "Easy Recipes for Beginning

    What is the relationship between these two titles? They both kind of relate to food? How to prune a tree is gardening advice. Easy recipes is cooking advice. So these two titles seem to have very little topic overlap, whereas the passage had rectification of property injustice as a pretty specific overlap. If A's title is "A Guide to Pruning Fruit Trees", then B's title should be something like, "How We Should Prune the Orange Tree in the Town Square".

  4. Equal Specificity / Too Adversarial5% picked this

    "Notable Failures of the STORM Weather

    "Meteorologists' Best Tool Yet: The STORM

    This doesn't scratch our itch from General vs. Specific, because these are equally specific. They are both about the STORM model. And since these two titles indicate a point / counterpoint relationship (notable failures vs. best tool), they make it seem like Passage A and B were opposed to each other's main points, which seems far off. Both A and B seemed to recognize past injustices in relation to property and to desire a rectification of that injustice.

  5. Correct79% picked this

    "Fundamentals of Building Construction and

    "Engineering Report: The Repairs Needed by the

    Why this is right

    This captures the General vs. Specific relationship of A vs. B. Both A and B dealt with rectification of past property injustice. Both of these titles deal with building repair. Passage A laid out the general principles regarding property justice, and A's title here sounds like it lays out the general principles regarding building construction and repair. Passage B dealt with a specific situation that invokes principles regarding property justice, and B's title here sound like it applies general principles of building repair to a specific situation/building.

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

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