Reading ComprehensionDifficulty: Easy

PT5 S4 P1 Q5 Explanation

Government Contracts

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

TopicsInferenceLaw

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Passage

Governments of developing countries occasionally enter into economic development agreements with foreign investors who provide capital and technological expertise that may not be readily available in such countries. Besides the normal economic risk that accompanies such enterprises, investors face the additional risk that the host government may attempt unilaterally to change in constitutes a general principle of law. However, their argument is flawed on at least two counts.

First, in French law not all government contracts are treated as administrative contracts. Some contracts are designated as administrative by specific statute, in which case the contractor is made aware of the applicable legal rules upon entering into agreement with the government. Alternatively, the contracting government agency can itself designate a contract is thus prevented from modifying those contractual terms that define the financial balance of the contract.

Second, the French law of administrative contracts, although adopted by several countries, is not so universally accepted that it can be embraced as a general principle of law. In both the United States and the United Kingdom, government contracts are governed by the ordinary law of contracts, with the result that the to modify or terminate agreements unilaterally derives from specific contract provisions, not from inherent state power.

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
5.

It can be inferred from the passage that under the “ordinary law of contracts” (third paragraph), a government would have the right to modify unilaterally the terms of

Answer choices

  1. Trap1% picked this

    The government undertook a greater economic risk by entering into the contract than did

  2. Trap1% picked this

    The cost to the foreign investor of abiding by the terms of the contract exceeded the original

  3. Trap1% picked this

    The modification of the contract did not result in any increased financial burden

  4. Trap1% picked this

    Both the government and the investor had agreed to abide by the general principles of law

  5. Correct96% picked this

    The contract contains a specific provision allowing the government to modify

    Why this is right

    Answer E is correct.

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

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