Technical Skills & Application Flashcards

A legal essay argues: 'The right to silence should be abolished because guilty defendants exploit it.' Which critical flaw is most significant?

Answer: It ignores the risk that abolition would harm innocent defendants who are inarticulate or anxious

Focusing only on guilty defendants exploiting the right ignores the protective function it serves for innocent but vulnerable people.

In statistical analysis, a result is described as 'statistically significant at p < 0.05.' This means:

Answer: There is less than a 5% probability of observing this result if the null hypothesis were true

A p-value below 0.05 means there is less than a 5% chance of obtaining the observed result under the null hypothesis, not that the effect is definitely real.

A barrister argues by analogy: 'In case X, the court held that silence in response to an accusation could constitute acceptance. My client similarly said nothing when accused of breach. Therefore he accepted the allegation.' For this analogy to hold, what must be true?

Answer: The legally relevant features of case X must be sufficiently similar to the present case

Legal analogy requires that the facts materially relevant to the legal rule are similar enough to justify applying the same outcome.

A passage claims that 'democracy is failing because voter turnout has declined.' Which additional piece of evidence would most undermine this argument?

Answer: Low-turnout elections have produced stable, representative governments with high public approval

If low turnout still produces stable and representative outcomes, it undermines the link between declining turnout and democratic failure.

The principle of expressio unius est exclusio alterius ('expression of one excludes the other') means that in a statute listing specific items:

Answer: Items not listed are presumed to be excluded from the statute's scope

Expressio unius holds that the deliberate listing of specific items implies that unlisted items are intentionally excluded.

An LNAT passage presents the following chain: 'Higher inequality leads to social unrest; social unrest undermines investment; reduced investment slows growth; slow growth increases inequality.' This reasoning structure is best called:

Answer: A causal chain (slippery slope)

The argument links a sequence of causally connected steps, forming a causal chain that, if unchecked, produces a self-reinforcing cycle.

When assessing an argument's structure in the LNAT, distinguishing a 'conclusion' from an 'intermediate conclusion' matters because:

Answer: An intermediate conclusion functions as both a conclusion to one set of premises and a premise for the final conclusion

An intermediate conclusion is derived from earlier premises and then itself acts as a premise supporting the main conclusion, forming a multi-step argument.