RC Question 19 Explanation, by LSATHacks
DISCUSSION: North America specifically bans blackmail, even though it’s a combination of two things that are normally legal.
Rome didn’t officially ban blackmail, but their laws on harmful disclosures had the indirect effect of banning actions we would consider blackmail.
Further, Rome didn’t allow harmful disclosures even if there was no blackmail. There were no rights to free speech. Disclosures were allowed only if they had a public purpose.
___________
- Both systems need to have similar effects. It seems like one country has no effect on carpenters.
- This answer talks about making the same thing illegal in different places. But Roman law actually made different things illegal.
- The effects of North American and Roman laws were fairly similar. In this answer, they’re different.
- CORRECT. The point of the passage is that both Roman law and modern north American law make blackmail illegal but for different reasons. Here, the laws on gun ownership follow the same pattern. They both have the same effect: it is illegal for felons to own guns. In one country, only authorities can own guns and felons are banned indirectly. This is similar to ancient Rome. In another country gun ownership by felons is directly banned. This is similar to the US and Canada directly banning blackmail.
- This is a totally different situation. Here something dangerous is allowed in one country, but you’re on the hook if you misuse it.
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Why is E wrong? According to the second passage, blackmail is alright as long as it doesn’t hurt someone. The same is seemingly shown in E: it ok to do a certain action, but will be fined if it causes damage. Please explain. Thanks!
The relationship between the laws of the two countries in (E) is very different than that between the blackmail laws of Canadian and U.S. common law and classical Roman law. In (E), something that is entirely illegal in one country is legally permitted in the other but with higher penalties for misuse. Blackmail, on the other hand, is illegal in Canada and the U.S., but permissible in Roman law unless it does harm or is useful to the state. Importantly, blackmail sometimes falls into a more general category of causing harm, which is impermissible. That’s different than making it permissible, but imposing higher than average penalties on those who misuse it.
(D) is closer to the relationship because we have the general law of gun ownership being illegal, and there are also two groups who have exemptions from the law. In the same way, blackmail is illegal when it falls into the general category of causing harm, but there are exceptions.