Q14

[tzyc]

I eliminated the other 4 and arrived (B) but not sure about the part "definitely resolved in favor of one side" of (E)...
especially after the term it says "or decidable according to existing law".
Wouldn't what come before "or" and after it mean different things? If the term "legally determinate" mean as what (E) says, it sounds like it refers to the same thing...=decidable according to existing law?

[rinagoldfield]

TZ, you’re right that questions that are legally determinate are "decidable according to existing law." Put another way, questions that are legally determinate do NOT require an appeal to "nonlegal" structures such as morality or politics to be resolved.

So we’re looking for an answer choice that matches this idea of a problem that is solvable according to existing law.

(B) is correct. This is supported by lines 6-7: a legally determinate case is "decidable according to existing law."
The strength of this answer choice is fine"”the bit about "definitely resolved in favor of one side" just means that the legal issues of the case are clear. Which is exactly what legally determinate means.

(A) is out of scope. The passage doesn’t connect legal determinacy to punishment.

(C) is unsupported. The author believes law can include unwritten principles as well as written rules (lines 47-52). The author never suggests that cases that are legally determinate only appeal to the written component of law.

(D) is out of scope and contradicted. The author never discusses "terms with imprecise meanings." Also, cases that rely on judicial discretion rather than existing law are legally indeterminate, not legally determinate (lines 22-29).

(E) is unsupported. Legal determinacy isn't about a procedure"”it simply describes cases that are clear-cut according to existing law.