The Importance of Law IELTS Reading: Complete Guide & Answer Key

“The Importance of Law” is a highly academic reading passage frequently featured in actual IELTS Reading tests. The article discusses the profound influence of law on human life, the explosion in the volume of legal documentation, and the controversies surrounding the role of lawyers.

This article from the ECE language center provides the full reading passage, a compilation of “high-scoring” vocabulary, and detailed explanations for every question to help you prepare effectively.

The Importance of Law: Reading Passage Information

The Importance of Law

A. The law influences all of us virtually all the time, it governs almost all aspects of our behavior, and even what happens to us when we are no longer alive. It affects us from the embryo onwards. It governs the air we breathe, the food and drink we consume, our travel, family relationships, and our property. It applies at the bottom of the ocean and in space. Each time we examine a label on a food product, engage in work as an employee or employer, travel on the roads, go to school to learn or to teach, stay in a hotel, borrow a library book, create or dissolve a commercial company, play sports, or engage the services of someone for anything from plumbing a sink to planning a city, we are in the world of law.

B. Law has also become much more widely recognised as the standard by which behavior needs to be judged. A very telling development in recent history is the way in which the idea of law has permeated all parts of social life. The universal standard of whether something is socially tolerated is progressively becoming whether it is legal, rather than something that has always been considered acceptable. In earlier times, most people were illiterate. Today, by contrast, a vast number of people can read, and it is becoming easier for people to take an interest in law, and for the general population to help actually shape the law in many countries. However, law is a versatile instrument that can be used equally well for the improvement or the degradation of humanity.

C. This, of course, puts law in a very significant position. In our rapidly developing world, all sorts of skills and knowledge are valuable. Those people, for example, with knowledge of computers, the internet, and communications technology are relied upon by the rest of us. There is now someone with IT skills or an IT help desk in every UK school, every company, every hospital, every local and central government office. Without their knowledge, many parts of commercial and social life today would seize up in minutes. But legal understanding is just as vital and as universally needed. The American comedian Jerry Seinfeld put it like this, ‘We are all throwing the dice, playing the game, moving our pieces around the board, but if there is a problem, the lawyer is the only person who has read the inside of the top of the box.’ In other words, the lawyer is the only person who has read and made sense of the rules.

D. The number of laws has never been greater. In the UK alone, about 35 new Acts of Parliament are produced every year, thereby delivering thousands of new rules. The legislative output of the British Parliament has more than doubled in recent times from 1,100 pages a year in the early 1970s, to over 2,500 pages a year today. Between 1997 and 2006, the legislature passed 365 Acts of Parliament and more than 32,000 legally binding statutory instruments. In a system with so much law, lawyers do a great deal not just to vindicate the rights of citizens and organizations but also to help develop the law through legal arguments, some of which are adapted by judges to become laws. Law courts can and do produce new law and revise old law, but they do so having heard the arguments of lawyers.

E. However, despite their important role in developing the rules, lawyers are not universally admired. Anti-lawyer jokes have a long history going back to the ancient Greeks. More recently the son of a famous Hollywood actor was asked at his junior school what his father did for a living, to which he replied, ‘My daddy is a movie actor, and sometimes he plays the good guy, and sometimes he plays the lawyer. For balance, though, it Is worth remembering that there are and have been many heroic and revered lawyers such as the Roman philosopher and politician Cicero and Mahatma Gandi, the Indian campaigner for independence.

F. People sometimes make comments that characterise lawyers as professionals whose concerns put personal reward above truth, or who gain financially from misfortune. There are undoubtedly lawyers that would fit that bill, Just as there are some scientists, Journalists and others In that category, But, In general, it is no more Just to say that lawyers are bad because they make a living from people’s problems than it is to make the same accusation In respect of nurses or IT consultants, A great many lawyers are involved in public law work, such as that Involving civil liberties, housing and other Issues. Such work Is not lavishly remunerated and the quality of the service provided by these lawyers relies on considerable professional dedication, Moreover, much legal work has nothing to do with conflict or misfortune, but is primarily concerned with drafting documents, Another source of social disaffection for lawyers, and disaffection for the law, is a limited public understanding of how law works and how It could be changed. Greater clarity about these issues, maybe as a result of better public relations, would reduce many aspects of public dissatisfaction with the law.

Questions

Questions 1 – 6 The reading Passage has six paragraphs A – F.

Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i Different areas of professional expertise

ii Reasons why it is unfair to criticise lawyers

iii The disadvantages of the legal system

iv The law applies throughout our lives v The law has affected historical events

vi A negative regard for lawyers vii public’s increasing ability to influence the law

viii growth in laws

1………………… Paragraph A

2………………… Paragraph B

3………………… Paragraph C

4………………… Paragraph D

5………………… Paragraph E

6………………… Paragraph F

Questions 7-8 Choose TWO letters, A-E. Write the correct letters in boxes 7-8 on your answer sheet. Which TWO of the following statements does the writer make about legal skills in today’s world?

A There should be a person with legal training in every hospital.

B Lawyers with experience in commercial law are the most in demand.

C Knowledge of the law is as important as having computer skills.

D Society could not function effectively without legal experts.

E Schools should teach students about the law.

Questions 9-13 Complete the summary below.

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet. Lawyers as professionals People sometimes say that 9………………… is of little interest to lawyers, who are more concerned with making money. This may well be the case with some individuals, in the same way that some 10…………………. or scientific experts may also be driven purely by financial greed. However, criticising lawyers because their work is concerned with people’s problems would be similar to attacking IT staff or 11………………… for the same reason. In fact, many lawyers focus on questions relating, for example, to housing or civil liberties, which requires them to have 12………………… to their work. What’s more, a lot of lawyers’ time is spent writing 13………………… rather than dealing with people’s misfortunes.

Summary of the Reading Passage

To help you grasp the main points, here is a brief summary of each paragraph:

• Paragraph A: Asserts that the law governs every aspect of human life, from the embryonic stage, through daily activities (eating, living, traveling), until death. The law is omnipresent.

• Paragraph B: The law has become a standard for judging social behavior. Thanks to rising literacy rates, people today are more interested in and capable of influencing or shaping the law than ever before.

• Paragraph C: Compares the role of legal knowledge with IT skills. Both are equally vital. The author uses a metaphor, describing lawyers as the only ones who have “read the rules of the game” in the game of life.

• Paragraph D: Discusses the explosion in the number of legal documents (Acts of Parliament) in the UK. Lawyers play a crucial role in developing new laws through arguments in court.

• Paragraph E: Despite their important role, lawyers are often not well-liked and are frequently the subject of “anti-lawyer jokes.” However, history still honors heroic lawyers like Cicero or Gandhi.

• Paragraph F: Refutes criticisms that lawyers only care about money. The author argues that many lawyers work with great dedication for the public good (housing, civil liberties) for low pay, and that most of their work involves drafting documents rather than just litigation.

Key Vocabulary from the Passage

Mastering the vocabulary and structures below will help you not only understand the passage but also improve your IELTS Writing score.

Answers and Detailed Explanations

Questions 1 – 6: List of Headings

1. Paragraph A: iv (The law applies throughout our lives)

• Explanation: Paragraph A lists a series of activities from the embryonic stage to death, including eating, traveling, and business, all of which are governed by law.

• Keywords: affects us from the embryo, governs air/food/travel, world of law.

2. Paragraph B: vii (Public’s increasing ability to influence the law)

• Explanation: Paragraph B discusses how higher literacy rates today (vast number of people can read) allow the general population to participate in shaping the law.

• Keywords: general population, help actually shape the law.

3. Paragraph C: i (Different areas of professional expertise)

• Explanation: Paragraph C compares two areas of expertise: computer/IT knowledge and legal understanding. Both are presented as important professional skills.

• Keywords: knowledge of computers, legal understanding, skills.

4. Paragraph D: viii (Growth in laws)

• Explanation: Paragraph D provides specific figures regarding the increase in the number of laws: from 1,100 pages to 2,500 pages, and thousands of new rules.

• Keywords: number of laws, never been greater, thousands of new rules, doubled.

5. Paragraph E: vi (A negative regard for lawyers)

• Explanation: Paragraph E discusses the negative perception of lawyers: they are not universally admired and are often the subject of satirical jokes.

• Keywords: not universally admired, Anti-lawyer jokes, plays the good guy… plays the lawyer.

6. Paragraph F: ii (Reasons why it is unfair to criticise lawyers)

• Explanation: Paragraph F provides reasons why criticizing lawyers is unfair. The author compares them to nurses and IT professionals, emphasizing that many lawyers work with dedication for the community, not just for money.

• Keywords: no more Just to say that lawyers are bad, unfair criticism.

Questions 7 – 8: Multiple Choice

Answers: C, D

• 7C (Knowledge of the law is as important as having computer skills):

  • Evidence (Paragraph C): “But legal understanding is just as vital and as universally needed.”

• 7D (Society could not function effectively without legal experts):

  • Evidence (Paragraph C): The author notes that without IT, society would “seize up,” and then states that legal understanding is “just as vital.” The passage also describes lawyers as the only ones who understand the “rules of the game,” implying society needs them to function when problems arise.

Questions 9 – 13: Summary Completion

9. Truth

• Location (Paragraph F): “…whose concerns put personal reward above truth…”

10. Journalists

• Location (Paragraph F): “Just as there are some scientists, Journalists and others…”

11. Nurses

• Location (Paragraph F): “…accusation In respect of nurses or IT consultants…”

12. Dedication

• Location (Paragraph F): “…relies on considerable professional dedication…”

13. Documents

• Location (Paragraph F): “…primarily concerned with drafting documents…”

The reading passage “The Importance of Law” is a valuable IELTS Reading practice resource, helping learners become familiar with legal terminology and rigorous argumentative structures. Through this article, we hope you have grasped the content, expanded your vocabulary on the topic of Law, and understood the reasoning required to find the correct answers.

Practice regularly and apply the grammatical structures you have learned to your Writing test to achieve the highest score. ECE wishes you success in your exam preparation!