History Main / PrecedentExcuse

A character wants a privilege, an item, or something, everyone else says "No". The then character claims to have something else as a pre-existing justification. This goes a few ways:

A SubTrope to WhyWeCantHaveNiceThings. Compare RuleZero and ObviousRulePatch (Tropes used to prevent LoopholeAbuse). Compare and Contrast GrandfatherClause (where something's allowed because it has already been allowed under an obsolete precedent).

A character wants a privilege, an item or something, everyone else says "No", the character claims having something else as a pre-existing Justification. This goes a few ways:

* It backfires by causing everyone to reconsider what was used as the justification, causing the possibility of the privilege in question being revoked.
* Conversely (and rarely) people see it as a good reason and gives out the privilege.
* In the case of letting characters in a group/place. they might do the above, or think of reasons to include the the guy that was used as justification while excluding the guys wanting to get in.

!!Examples

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

[[folder: Live Action TV]]

[[folder: Web Original]]

* On Wiki/TheOtherWiki, this was historically called the "Franchise/{{Pokemon}} [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Pokemon_test test]]": when arguing about why an article should not be deleted, its supporters would say, "if we have articles about every obscure Pokémon, why can't we also have an article about this?" Since the Pokémon articles have since been merged into lists, these days it is simply called "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Other_stuff_exists Other stuff exists]]."

* ''Fanfic/PersonalityConflicts'' (a ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' fic: Used positively in the "Zordon's Trial" arc -- Ferin, one of Trey's advisors, is rather stuck on doing things in the way they've always been, but when he objects to Trey's choice of his younger triplet sister Trialia as his successor (since she would become both the planet's ruler and Gold Ranger), one of the other advisors points out that there ''is'' a precedent -- Queen Solaria, who held both the crown and the powers a ''very'' long time ago. Ferin concedes the point and, by the time the meeting is done, is one of the four advisors are supporting Trey's choice whole-heartedly. The fifth (who isn't fond of change, including women's increasing rights on the planet) reluctantly accepts as well.

* In the ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' episode "Aurora" Sheppard is thrown in jail and tries to get the guard to let him out and take him to the ship's captain. The guard says he is under orders to make sure Sheppard speaks to no one. Sheppard retorts that the guard is already talking to him, so the order is already broken; the guard then walks out wordlessly.

* [[http://notalwaysright.com/wine-spirits-of-camraderie/13510 This]] ''Website/NotAlwaysRight'' story has a drunk bar patron try to excuse their friend's drunkenness by arguing they're more drunk than them, thus getting them both thrown out.

* In "Angelina's Sleepover" on ''WesternAnimation/AngelinaBallerina: The Next Steps'', Angelina and her friends promise Angelina's mother that they're about to go to sleep, but then stay up to complete the carnival hats that they started. They do this on the excuse that they even though the mother had told them to go to sleep, she also always says that they should finish what they start, and they hadn't finished making their hats yet.

* Many "patent trolls" (people and organizations who horde huge amounts of patents in the hope of [[FrivolousLawsuit suing people with similar ideas]]) have had their patents revoked by judges, who decided that they shouldn't have been awarded the patent in the first place (generally because they were so broad they could describe almost anything). As a result, a lot of them try to force their victims to settle out of court (and drop their lawsuits if they go to trial).

** Andy is going through the bills, horrified by the heating bill, the telephone bill, the cable bill... Then Paige walks in in a bikini, telling her that she's got her friends on a conference call if they can go to some TV-sponsored event. The next panel has Peter, Paige and Jason in heavy winter clothes watching the rabbit ear antenna'd TV, with Jason holding up a telegraph telling Paige shes has a message as Peter angrily demands to know what Paige told their mom.

* In the ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' episode "Aurora" Sheppard is thrown in jail and tries to get the guard to let him out and take him to the ship's captain. The guard says he is under orders to make sure Sheppard speaks to no one. Sheppard retorts that the guard is already talking to him so the order is already broken, the guard then walks out wordlessly.

* On Wiki/TheOtherWiki, this was historically called the "Franchise/{{Pokemon}} [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Pokemon_test test]]": when arguing about why an article should not be deleted, its supporters would say, "if we have articles about every obscure Pokemon, why can't we also have an article about this?" Since the Pokemon articles have since been merged into lists, these days it is simply called "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Other_stuff_exists Other stuff exists]]."

* On TheOtherWiki, this was historically called the "Franchise/{{Pokemon}} [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Pokemon_test test]]": when arguing about why an article should not be deleted, its supporters would say, "if we have articles about every obscure Pokemon, why can't we also have an article about this?" Since the Pokemon articles have since been merged into lists, these days it is simply called "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Other_stuff_exists Other stuff exists]]."

A character wants a privilege, an item or something, everyone else says No, the character claims having something else as a pre-existing Justification. This goes a few ways:

** In the episode "Homer The Great", Homer as a kid was barred access to a club because they don't allow people named Homer. Kid!Homer points out that they let a kid named Homer Glumplich in, only for the club to respond that it is called [[OneSteveLimit No Homer]]''[[OneSteveLimit s]]''. It repeats himself at the end of the episode with the Ancient Mystic Society of No Homers.

[[/folder]]

* Oh, Planet Pluto. Or rather the [[PlutoIsExpendable former Planet Pluto]]. When Sedna and the other outer icy planets were discovered people said they ought to be planets because they were basically the same as Pluto. This caused the IAU, who didn't want too many planets in the solar system, to say that Pluto oughtn't to be a planet then.

* In ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'', Andy grounds Peter for a week after finding out that he saw the R-rated ''Film/KillBill Volume 2''. Peter protests that she didn't get upset when he saw the first ''Film/KillBill'' movie. Andy responds that she hadn't known that he saw the first movie, and that he is now grounded for ''two'' weeks.
** Another Foxtrot example: Andy is going through the bills, horrified by the heating bill, the telephone bill, the cable bill... Then Paige walks in in a bikini, telling her that she's got her friends on a conference call if they can go to some TV-sponsored event. The next panel has Peter, Paige and Jason in heavy winter clothes watching the rabbit ear antenna'd TV, with Jason holding up a telegraph telling Paige shes has a message as Peter angrily demands to know what Paige told their mom.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Homer The Great", Homer as a kid was barred access to a club because they don't allow people named Homer. Kid!Homer points out that they let a kid named Homer Glumplich in, only for the club to respond that it is called [[OneSteveLimit No Homer]]''[[OneSteveLimit s]]''. It repeats himself at the end of the episode with the Ancient Mystic Society of No Homers.