LSAT 115 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q1

LR Question 1 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: A distinguished British judge, Justice Upton, said that…

QUESTION TYPE: Main Conclusion

CONCLUSION: British judges should be well equipped to decide if an administrative decision by a government minister is reasonable.

REASONING: If they aren’t well equipped, then there is something badly wrong with the legal system. Yet there is little reason to suppose there is.

ANALYSIS: This is a good argument, and properly qualified. Justice Upton only says they “should be able to”, he is not definite.

___________

1. This is a premise which supports his conclusion. Since there is nothing much wrong with the system, judges should be capable of assessing administrative decisions.
2. This is not what he is saying at all. He does not claim judges should begin to make administrative decisions – that is a job for administrators.
3. CORRECT. This is a bit more categorical than Justice Upton’s conclusion, but it is by far the best choice.
4. By this logic, a shortage of courthouses (which is something badly wrong with the legal system) would mean that judges were no longer capable of assessing administrative decision. It incorrectly reverses the premise.
5. This incorrectly negates the premise. Judges not being able to judge a minister’s action would be a problem with the legal system, but there could be many other problems.
    
   Note: The premise for D and E is: Judges can’t evaluation admin decisions something is badly wrong.

Recap: The question begins with “A distinguished British judge, Justice Upton, said that”. It is a Identify The Conclusion question. Learn how to master LSAT Identify questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.