Appropriate to ask whether an article is representative of legal consensus?

Question

Is it appropriate to ask a question like the following?

In the 2060 article "contractual obligations of robots," Eric Trump IX proposes that the contractual obligations of robots should be evaluated according to the "ship of Theseus doctrine." At the time it was written, did this reflect a legal consensus or trend? How widely shared were similar views?

Answer 1

Appropriate to ask whether an article is representative of legal consensus?

Yes. Questions such as "did this reflect a legal consensus or trend?" pertain to legal history and legal precedents, which courts themselves invoke in the process of positing that their decision is consistent with the controlling law.