LNAT (Legal Aptitude II) 2 â Questions and Answers
Question 1: 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?
- Yes, because a car is a vehicle regardless of its operational state. (Correct answer)
- No, because a non-operational car poses no public danger.
- No, because the statute only covers motorized movement.
- Yes, but only if the park is open to the public at the time.
Correct 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.
Question 2: Which logical fallacy occurs when an arguer attacks the character of the person making an argument rather than the argument itself?
- Straw man
- Ad hominem (Correct answer)
- False dichotomy
- Begging the question
Correct answer: Ad hominem
Ad hominem means 'against the person' and involves dismissing an argument by attacking the speaker's credibility rather than the content.
Question 3: 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?
- The tenant, as the occupier of the property.
- The landlord, because structural repairs are generally the owner's duty. (Correct answer)
- The local council, under housing regulations.
- Neither party until a court orders otherwise.
Correct 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.
Question 4: 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?
- It relies on anecdotal evidence.
- It confuses correlation with causation. (Correct answer)
- It commits a false analogy.
- It is an appeal to authority.
Correct 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.
Question 5: 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?
- The literal rule, because brandy is liquor.
- The golden rule, because a strict reading would produce absurdity.
- The mischief rule, targeting sales for recreational intoxication. (Correct answer)
- Parliamentary intention, since Parliament never debated pharmacies.
Correct answer: The mischief rule, targeting sales for recreational intoxication.
The mischief rule looks at the evil Parliament sought to remedyârecreational intoxicationâwhich a medicinal sale does not constitute.
Question 6: Which of the following best describes the doctrine of judicial precedent (stare decisis)?
- Judges must always follow decisions of lower courts.
- A court is bound by its own previous decisions and those of superior courts. (Correct answer)
- Parliament may not overrule a court's decision.
- Judges may only deviate from precedent when they personally disagree with it.
Correct 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.
Question 7: 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?
- An appeal to emotion
- An empirical rebuttal of a factual premise (Correct answer)
- A logical fallacy
- A moral counter-argument
Correct answer: An empirical rebuttal of a factual premise
The critic challenges the factual basis of the argumentâthat capital punishment deters crimeâusing empirical evidence rather than emotional or ethical grounds.
LNAT (Legal Aptitude II) 2
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?