Technical Skills & Application Flashcards

A passage concludes: 'Banning social media would improve teen mental health.' Which of the following, if true, most strengthens this argument?

Answer: Studies show teen anxiety decreased significantly in regions that restricted social media access

Evidence of decreased anxiety following social media restrictions directly supports the causal claim that banning it improves mental health.

A court must interpret the word 'child' in a Victorian-era statute. The mischief rule would direct the court to:

Answer: Identify the gap in the common law the statute was designed to remedy

The mischief rule requires courts to identify what problem (mischief) the legislature intended to cure and interpret the statute to suppress that mischief.

Which of the following best illustrates an ad hominem fallacy?

Answer: The expert's evidence should be discounted because he is a biased advocate, not because his data is flawed

Ad hominem attacks the person rather than their argument; dismissing expert data solely because of who the expert is constitutes this fallacy.

A judge reads a statute that lists 'dogs, cats, hamsters, and other animals.' A claimant argues a python is an 'other animal.' Applying ejusdem generis, the court should:

Answer: Exclude the python because it is not of the same kind as the listed domestic pets

Ejusdem generis limits 'other animals' to the same class as the specific examples listed — domestic pets — so a python would be excluded.

Two premises: 'Either the defendant was at the scene or he has an alibi. He was not at the scene.' What validly follows?

Answer: He has an alibi

Disjunctive syllogism: when one option in an 'either/or' is ruled out, the other must be true.

A LNAT passage argues that 'jury trials should be abolished because juries are susceptible to emotional manipulation.' The underlying assumption is:

Answer: Decisions influenced by emotion are less legally valid than purely rational ones

The argument only holds if emotional influence is assumed to undermine legal validity, which is the unstated premise linking susceptibility to the need for abolition.

A legislature enacts a statute after a report identifying widespread exploitation of gig workers. When a court later interprets an ambiguous clause, which source is MOST useful under the purposive approach?

Answer: The parliamentary report that preceded the statute

The purposive approach uses external aids like parliamentary reports to understand the social mischief and legislative intent the statute sought to address.