medium · LSAT Reading Comprehension
A passage on legal precedent grants that adherence to precedent serves important values, chiefly the stability and predictability of the law, but it argues that this same adherence carries a serious cost: by binding courts to earlier rulings, precedent can perpetuate injustices long after they are recognized as such. A law professor responds: 'The doctrine of precedent is like an anchor for a ship; it provides the stability needed to keep the legal system from drifting aimlessly. Removing it would produce total judicial chaos.'
Based on the passage, its author would most likely respond to the law professor's analogy by
- rejecting any need for stability and endorsing a system driven entirely by individual judicial discretion
- insisting that the legal system is better likened to a living organism than to a mechanical ship
- agreeing that judicial precedent is the sole guarantor of predictability for ordinary citizens
- granting the value of stability while observing that the same anchor can hold a ship fast against a hazardous reef
- conceding that without precedent the legal system would in fact collapse into chaos
Sign up free to see the explanation and track your rank →
More LSAT Reading Comprehension practice
- The author's use of the word "demonstrates" most strongly suggests that the author's attit
- Which one of the following most accurately describes the primary purpose of the second par
- Which one of the following most accurately describes the author's attitude toward the pres
- Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main point of the passage?
- Which one of the following most accurately describes the author's attitude toward true cri
- Which one of the following most accurately describes the primary function of the second pa
- Which one of the following most accurately describes the author's attitude toward urban mi
- Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main point of the passage?