PrepTest 121

[lcid:3582] Prep Test 121 LSAT — Reading Comp — S3 Reading comp

Passage

Questions 13-19  .        Although the rights of native peoples of Canada  . have yet to be comprehensively defined in Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Legal Studies


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Background/Intro to implied legal question
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Native Canadians don’t have their rights defined in law
    • Native Peoples - Right to govern selves and land; ownership over movable cultural property
    • Traditional statute/law - Movable property owned by museums/custodians
    • Recent litigation/Native Canadians - Owned by Native Peoples
    • Suggested Question - Who owns it? Who should?

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Current legal framework; Alternative argument
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Current (Canadian law) - Private property - Items are owned and can be transferred
    • Alternative (Native Canadians) - Collective ownership - People use items that are collectively owned, but they can’t transfer them out

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Current situation; Author’s prediction/opinion
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Current - Courts recognize ownership of museums who have documents
    • Prediction - Courts will recognize collective property; courts will and “should” honor claims of Native Canadians

Main Point: Courts should and will increasingly view claims of Native Canadians to movable cultural property as invoking the idea of collective ownership, thus honoring their communal ownership rights in these items.

Key Lines?

Lines 9-14 - Key legal issue/question raised

Lines 15-16 - Current approach

Lines 25-28 - Alternative approach

Lines 53-61 - Author’s prediction and opinion on what “should” happen

Meta-Structure?

Question/Answer and Old Approach/New Approach - This passage enmeshes two common Meta-Structures in a way that happens relatively frequently in Legal Studies passages. It presents a Question that the legal system needs to address, which suggests a Question/Answer Meta-Structure. Here, that question is: Who owns Native Canadian movable cultural property (Lines 9-14)? In such a Meta-Structure, the Author’s answer (or her opinion of a key answer) is the main point. Frequently, though, in a Legal Studies passage, the answer to the legal question involves a New Approach to that area of law, which is what we see here! The Author presents the current approach - basing the decision on the idea of private property (Lines 15-16). She then highlights an alternative - basing the decision on the idea of collective ownership (Lines 25-28), which is how Native Canadians have traditionally viewed ownership of their movable cultural property. At the end of the passage, the Author predicts that this approach will become more common (Lines 55-60) and endorses it (“should be honored,” Line 61). In an Old Approach/New Approach passage, the Author’s opinion of the New Approach serves as the main point. Here, the Author endorses the New Approach as an Answer to the key legal Question in the passage, so that is our main point, as we summarized above.

Prediction - Predictions are almost always featured in questions when one is made by the Author. Here, the Author doesn’t just endorse the use of the concept of communal property/collective ownership in cases involving Native Canadian property claims, but she also predicts that courts “will gradually recognize” that it’s the appropriate framework in these cases. Such a prediction on the core topic of the passage should be reflected in the main point and will likely feature in a question or two.

Last Thoughts?

Nothing here!

Question prompt

The passage suggests that Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: A

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Question Type

Legal

Strategy Overview

Identify where the two concepts of property ownership are discussed, then eliminate answers that show up in that section

Answer Anticipation

We should start by identifying where in the passage the relevant information for this question is most likely to show up. This question asks about differences between collective and private ownership - the new and old approaches, respectively. According to our outline of the passage, these two were contrasted mainly in Paragraph 2, though Paragraph 3 also involves some discussion of them.For these Bizarro Must be True questions, the correct answer will either be out of scope or be contradicted by information in the passage. For the former, you’ll generally use process of elimination to get rid of each answer that does show up in the passage - this is the norm. For the latter, you’re in luck, as you can find a line cite to back up that answer and thus can feel a lot more comfortable about picking it (while also likely getting it correct faster). But we won’t know if this is the case for the correct answer until after we analyze it, so we should go in expecting to use process of elimination.With that in mind, we should review the main point since it strongly involves these two concepts, then head to the answers and eliminate those that we can identify in the passage while also considering if we’re likely to be able to show an answer is contradicted by information in the passage.

Answer choices

  1. A
    The collective concept allows Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem

    (A) (Lines 15-19) The first half of this answer sounds right, but the second doesn’t - a business is a group of individuals, and it can own property. We should thus dig into Paragraph 2 to see if we can justify picking this answer choice by finding something that contradicts it. And we get that, right off the bat - the opening sentence of Paragraph 2, where private property is defined, says that under this concept, property can be owned by “groups functioning legally as individuals.” This statement contradicts this answer choice, so this is the correct answer.

  2. B
    The collective concept requires Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) (Lines 21-22; Lines 31-33) This answer very much lines up with our big-picture understanding of the two concepts. And, specifically, private property involves a right to use that property “without inside interference,” while collective ownership allows each member of a community to “have an equal say” in how it’s used.

  3. C
    The collective concept assigns Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) (Line 18; Lines 31-33) This is another answer that lines up with our overall understanding of these concepts. The passage notes that private ownership involves individuals having rights over property, which isn’t reliant on the community. And as we just stated in (B), the passage talks about “the community’s resources” when defining collective ownership.

  4. D
    The private concept allows Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) (Lines 36-37) In contrasting the two types of ownership, the passage states that collective ownership doesn’t convey the role of titleholder, which implies that private ownership does. This answer can thus be eliminated.

  5. E
    The private concept permits Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) (Lines 20-22; Lines 36-40) Yet another answer that aligns with our overall view of these two types of ownership! The passage notes that private ownership allows an individual to do what they want with that property - which would include selling it. Collective ownership, on the other hand, casts community owners in the role of guardian/caretaker, not titleholder - they can’t sell the property as it belongs to the community.

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