Historian F. W. Maitland observed that legal documents are the best—indeed, often the only—available evidence about the economic

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问题     Historian F. W. Maitland observed that legal documents are the best—indeed, often the only—available evidence about the economic and social history of a given period. Why, then, has it taken so long for historians to focus systematically on the civil (noncriminal) law of early modern (sixteenth- to eighteenth-century) England? Maitland offered one reason: the subject requires researchers to “master an extremely formal system of pleading and procedure.” Yet the complexities that confront those who would study such materials are not wholly different from those recently surmounted by historians of criminal law in England during the same period. Another possible explanation for historians’ neglect of the subject is their widespread assumption that most people in early modern England had little contact with civil law. If that were so, the history of legal matters would be of little relevance to general historical scholarship. But recent research suggests that civil litigation during the period involved artisans, merchants, professionals, shopkeepers, and farmers, and not merely a narrow, propertied, male elite. Moreover, the later sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries saw an extraordinary explosion in civil litigation by both women and men, making this the most litigious era in English history on a per capita basis.
The author of the passage suggests which of the following about the “widespread assumption”?

选项 A、Because it is true, the history of civil law is of as much interest to historians focusing on general social history as to those specializing in legal history.
B、Because it is inaccurate, the history of civil law in early modern England should enrich the general historical scholarship of that period.
C、It is based on inaccurate data about the propertied male elite of early modern England.
D、It does not provide a plausible explanation for historians’ failure to study the civil law of early modern England.
E、It is based on an analogy with criminal law in early modern England.

答案B

解析 本题正确选项是B,选项B相当于同义改写了第六句这一虚拟语气的实际情况。这句话的字面含义是“假设是正确的”,因此实际情况是“假设不对”,对应选项B中的Because it is inaccurate;字面含义“法律历史和普遍社会历史研究无关”,实际情况“法律历史和普遍历史研究有关”,选项B中用enrich体现了民法历史和普遍历史的相关性。A项Because it is true表述相反。因为这一假设是错的。C项这一假设和有资产男性精英的数据无关,并不是基于错误数据。D项错在failure。failure=not,但是由第二句可知,民法不是没有被研究,只是研究得太晚了。E项刑法属于定位错误,该假设没有和刑法类比。
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