Reading ComprehensionDifficulty: Medium

PT5 S4 P1 Q7 Explanation

Government Contracts

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

TopicsMain PointLaw

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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

Main Point

Your task

Capture the passage's overall primary point — the claim everything else supports.

Common trap

Answers that are true but too narrow (a single paragraph) or too broad (beyond the passage's scope).

Winning move

Summarize the whole passage in one sentence first, then match it to a choice.

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

The question
7.

Which one of the following best states the author’s main conclusion in

Answer choices

  1. Wrong Objection16% picked this

    Providing that an international agreement be governed by general principles of law is not a viable method of guaranteeing the legal

    The author is arguing that, "there is NOT a general principle of law (originating in French law surrounding administrative contracts) that governments have the right to just nullify/amend contracts as they desire". This is saying that, "general principles of law do NOT provide a viable method of protecting contracts between governments and contractors.

  2. Wrong Emphasis Too Narrow1% picked this

    French law regarding contracts is significantly different from those in the United States and

    While this fact is implied by the final paragraph, it's way too narrow to be the conclusion. This is a premise that helps to support the author's arguments that "there is NOT a general principle of law (originating in French law surrounding administrative contracts) that governments have the right to just nullify/amend contracts as they desire". Pointing out that the UK and US don't treat these contracts the way the French do helped the author to support the conclusion that there ISN'T some general principle of law that resembles the French one.

  3. Too Narrow1% picked this

    Contracts between governments and private investors in most nations are governed by

    This is a claim that may be true (although it's not clear that the word "most" could be derived from the passage). But it has nothing to do with "there is NOT a general principle of law (originating in French law surrounding administrative contracts) that governments have the right to just nullify/amend contracts as they desire".

  4. Correct78% picked this

    An inherent power of a government to modify or terminate a contract cannot be considered a

    Why this is right

    This is our best match for "there is NOT a general principle of law (originating in French law surrounding administrative contracts) that governments have the right to just nullify/amend contracts as they desire".

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

  5. Too Strong5% picked this

    Contracts between governments and private investors can be secured only by reliance on general

    Too Strong: only Wrong Emphasis: freedom to modify/nullify? The author merely told us that many developing countries put clauses in their contracts with investors that say that the contract will be governed by general principles of law. The passage never suggests anything as strong as "the only way to secure these contracts is to use general principles of law". Plus, this answer has nothing to do with the core topic, which is whether governments have the right to modify or nullify these contracts.

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