History Main / ClearTheirName

** ''Silver Blaze''. Holmes' primary concern was finding the missing horse, not proving that the man arrested for stealing it wasn't responsible, even though he ultimately did both.

*** Not commonly done? That's one case out of every six.

[[AC: TabletopGames]]
* About the first 1/3 of ''{{Breath of Fire}}'' 2 is about Ryu persuing the culprit of a robbery his friend Bosch/Bow was accused of.

* Nine times out of ten, this is the plot that PerryMason has to deal with.
* SherlockHolmes did ''not'' commonly deal with this type of investigation in the original Doyle mysteries; however, several of the stories were reworked for the Granada televised series in such a way as to ''make'' them into this. Such an episode frequently begins with InspectorLestrade or one of his peers smugly gloating to Holmes [[GenreBlindness that it's an open-and-shut case this time, and that the person Lestrade's got locked up is definitely the killer, no questions asked]]. Some examples which originally ''were'' (or became) {{Clear Their Name}}s in one way, shape or form, however, were:
** ''The Blue Carbuncle''; in this one, Holmes enters this plot independently of the main investigation, having [[WorkingTheSameCase entered the case following a seemingly unrelated and trivial matter elsewhere]].
** As is ''The Boscombe Valley Mystery''. Although he's brought in by Lestrade originally, Holmes becomes convinced that the suspect is early on and is encouraged to investigate further by the main suspect's childhood friend, who'd very much like to be his girlfriend, actually.
** ''The Norwood Builder'' is another example, in which a young man was accused of murdering a wealthy old curmudgeon who had recently named him his heir.

* There's been a few episodes of ''LawAndOrder'' and its related franchises where the detectives have had to either re-open an old case due to new evidence or have had to do a 180 on a guy they themselves locked up.
* In the popular and famous Korean television drama ''Jewel In the Palace'', protagonist Jang Geum's main purpose throughout the entire story is to clear the name of both her deceased mother ''and'' her mentor (who were both framed and wrongfully accused and executed for a crime they didn't commit).
** This trope commonly occurs in a lot of Asian historical dramas, normally in the form of children trying to clear the name of their parents. Justified in that family name is ''extremely'' important in such cultures.
* In the same vein as ''PerryMason'', ''{{Matlock}}''.
* ''AceAttorney'' is another one that stands with Perry Mason and Matlock. The goal in every case to clear the name of their client and determine the true culprit. A good third of the suspects even insist on pleading guilty, making the lawyer's job that much harder. In ''Investigations'' Edgeworth usually has to clear at least two suspects per case in order to get to the real murderer- even though he's usually a prosecutor!
** [[spoiler: Done twice]] in the second game's final case. [[spoiler: First Phoenix accuses Adrian to get Matt cleared, then discovers that neither were technically guilty--Matt had hired an assassin to do the job for him. Phoenix must then clear Adrian's name in order to re-incriminate Matt, all the while pretending that he's still defending Matt.]]
** In case 4 of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, getting the culprit and clearing the defendant's name are the defense's ''only'' goals after [[spoiler: the defendant starts suffering from an apparently mortal poisoning.]]

* About the first 1/3 of ''{{Breath of Fire}}'' 2 is about Ryu persuing the culprit of a robbery his friend Bosch/Bow was accused of.

* Variation in ''{{Anime/Monster}}'': the hero, Dr. Tenma, ''is'' WronglyAccused. However, he doesn't really care about clearing his name, considering stopping [[CompleteMonster Johan]], the actual culprit, much more important. However, some of his friends ''do'' care, and spend their time piecing together information in the interests of proving Tenma innocent.
* In one episode of ''DuckTales'', Uncle Scrooge is sentenced to prison for the theft of a priceless piece of art, thanks to some pretty damning evidence -- footage from the museum security camera. Huey, Dewey and Louie believe in his innocence, however, and ultimately uncover the proof that [[spoiler:it was really Flintheart Glumgold in an Uncle Scrooge costume]].
* Subverted in {{Wicked}}. Glinda volunteers to tell the Ozians that Elphaba isn't a wicked witch- but Elphaba makes her promise not to, so the government won't do the same to her to keep her quiet.

* The very first Sideshow Bob episode in ''TheSimpsons'' had Bart trying to clear Krusty the Clown of committing armed robbery. Bob pulled it off with a very convincing disguise, but was foiled when Bart pointed out that the real culprit (Bob), unlike the real Krusty, had really big feet. Bob and Bart have been [[ArchEnemy Arch Enemies]] ever since.
* ''ToKillAMockingbird'''s main plot is an iconic example in American literature.

* In SinCity, parole officer Lucille takes the cases for both Marv and John Hartigan and tries desperately to clear their names. [[spoiler: She doesn't and actually gets killed in the process in Marv's story.]]
* Victorique from ''{{Gosick}}'' does this for her deceased mother back in her home town, where she was accused of killing a priest and was banished.

* SherlockHolmes did ''not'' commonly deal with this type of investigation in the original Doyle mysteries; however, several of the stories were reworked for the Granada televised series in such a way as to ''make'' them into this. Such an episode frequently begins with InspectorLestrade or one of his peers smugly gloating to Holmes [[GenreBlindness that it's an open-and-shut case this time, and that the person Lestrade's got locked up is definitely the killer, no questions asked]], chances are we're looking at this trope. Some examples which ''were'' {{Clear Their Name}}s, however, were:

** As is ''The Boscombe Valley Mystery''. Holmes is actively drawn into the plot by the main suspect's childhood friend, who'd very much like to be his girlfriend, actually.

* SherlockHolmes did ''not'' commonly deal with this type of investigation in the original Doyle mysteries; however, several of the stories were reworked for the Granada televised series in such a way as to ''make'' them into this. Such an episode frequently begins with InspectorLestrade or one of his peers smugly gloating to Holmes [[GenreBlindness that it's an open-and-shut case this time, and that the person Lestrade's got locked up is definitely the killer, no questions asked]], chances are we're looking at this trope.
** ''The Blue Carbuncle'' is one specific example; in this one, Holmes enters this plot independently of the main investigation, having [[WorkingTheSameCase entered the case following a seemingly unrelated and trivial matter elsewhere]].

* ''AceAttorney'' is another one that stands with Perry Mason and Matlock. The goal in every case to clear the name of their client and determine the true culprit. In ''Investigations'' Edgeworth usually has to clear at least two suspects per case in order to get to the real murderer- even though he's usually a prosecutor!

* Variation in ''{{Monster}}'': the hero, Dr. Tenma, ''is'' WronglyAccused. However, he doesn't really care about clearing his name, considering stopping [[CompleteMonster Johan]], the actual culprit, much more important. However, some of his friends ''do'' care, and spend their time piecing together information in the interests of proving Tenma innocent.

* The premise behind TheLifeOfDavidGale: a journalist tries to clear the titular character of murder charges while he is on death row [[spoiler:but she is doomed to just barely fail to stop his execution as the whole thing was a XanatosGambit to end the death penalty.]]

* Averted all over the place in SinCity. Both Marv and John Hartigan are accused of crimes they didn't commit but both realize that the system is so corrupt that there would be no point in trying to fight the accusations.

* Mario in ''SuperMarioSunshine''.

If the hero has clear him or herself of a crime they didn't commit, it's ClearMyName.

* ''AceAttorney'' is another one that stands with Perry Mason and Matlock. The goal in every case to clear the name of their client and determine the true culprit. In ''Investigations'' Edgeworth usually has to clear at least two suspects per case in order to get to the real murderer.

* ''AceAttorney'' is another one that stands with Perry Mason and Matlock.

** The only Granada episode of this type which actually was a ClearTheirName story the way Doyle wrote it was ''The Norwood Builder'', in which a young man was accused of murdering a wealthy old curmudgeon who had recently named him his heir.