(Legal Aptitude II) Flashcards
7 cards from real LNAT practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 (Legal Aptitude II) flashcards as text
A statute states that 'no vehicles are permitted in the park.' A man pushes a broken-down car through the park to reach a mechanic. Is he in breach of the statute?
Answer: Yes, because a car is a vehicle regardless of its operational state.
The literal rule of statutory interpretation holds that a car is a vehicle whether moving under its own power or not.
Which logical fallacy occurs when an arguer attacks the character of the person making an argument rather than the argument itself?
Answer: Ad hominem
Ad hominem means 'against the person' and involves dismissing an argument by attacking the speaker's credibility rather than the content.
A landlord rents a flat to a tenant. The lease is silent on who bears the cost of repairing a burst pipe. Under common law, who is most likely responsible?
Answer: The landlord, because structural repairs are generally the owner's duty.
At common law, landlords retain responsibility for structural and exterior repairs unless the lease expressly transfers that obligation to the tenant.
In a courtroom argument, a barrister says: 'Every drug dealer arrested in this district last year was unemployed; therefore, unemployment causes drug dealing.' What flaw does this reasoning contain?
Answer: It confuses correlation with causation.
Correlating unemployment with drug dealing does not establish that one causes the other; a third factor or reverse causation could explain the link.
A law forbids 'the sale of intoxicating liquor on Sundays.' A pharmacist sells a bottle of brandy to a customer who claims medicinal need, on a Sunday. Which interpretive approach most clearly exempts the pharmacist?
Answer: The mischief rule, targeting sales for recreational intoxication.
The mischief rule looks at the evil Parliament sought to remedy—recreational intoxication—which a medicinal sale does not constitute.
Which of the following best describes the doctrine of judicial precedent (stare decisis)?
Answer: A court is bound by its own previous decisions and those of superior courts.
Stare decisis requires courts to follow the ratio decidendi of decisions from courts of equal or higher standing in the same hierarchy.
A passage argues: 'Capital punishment deters crime; therefore we should retain it.' A critic counters that many studies show no deterrent effect. What type of response is the critic offering?
Answer: An empirical rebuttal of a factual premise
The critic challenges the factual basis of the argument—that capital punishment deters crime—using empirical evidence rather than emotional or ethical grounds.