Reading ComprehensionDifficulty: Easy

PT5 S4 P1 Q8 Explanation

Government Contracts

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

TopicsWeakenLaw

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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

Weaken

Your task

Find the choice that makes the argument's conclusion less likely to be true.

Common trap

Answers that look negative but attack a claim the argument never relied on.

Winning move

Find the assumption the argument depends on, then pick the choice that undermines it.

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

The question
8.

The author’s argument in the third paragraph would be most weakened if which one of the

Answer choices

  1. Correct83% picked this

    The specific provisions of government contracts often contain explicit statements of what all parties to the contracts already

    Why this is right

    Answer A is correct.

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

  2. Trap2% picked this

    Governments are more frequently put in the position of having to modify or terminate contracts

  3. Trap3% picked this

    Modification clauses in economic development agreements have frequently been challenged in international tribunals by foreign investors who were

  4. Trap5% picked this

    The general principles of law provide that modification clauses cannot allow the terms of a contract to be modified in such a way that

  5. Trap7% picked this

    Termination and modification agreements are often interpreted differently by national courts than they are

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