History Main / ScrewTheRulesTheyreNotReal

** Played with in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'', though, as there is a good reason why, while all pirate characters [[LoopholeAbuse bend the ever-living hell out of the Code to suit their needs]], they never actually violate the ExactWords, and that reason is [[TheDreaded Captain Edward Teague]], the Keeper of the Code. When one of the Indian pirates [[CerebusCallback says the Code is "more like guidelines" without knowing Teague was present]], [[AppealToForce Teague immediately shoots him dead]] and makes all of the other pirates in the room, the so-called "Pirate Lords" included, [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority immediately ditch that train of thought.]]

** Jonathan Teatime in ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'' is a terror amongst the [[MurderInc Assassin's Guild]] because he approaches all of his assignments with an "extreme prejudice" mentality (read: LeaveNoSurvivors, in the goriest fashion possible) instead of following the Guild's rules (read: we kill the people you pay us to kill [[ExactWords and no more]], and [[EvenEvilHasStandards there's people we won't kill no matter what]]). Although he points out they aren't actually rules, because to most Assassins, being "not the done thing" is far more important than a mere rule.

* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'': In this world all toys are alive, but whenever they're in the presence of a human they immediately stop talking and moving. When Woody and Buzz need to escape from Sid's clutches, [[spoiler:they, along with all of Sid's toys, drop the masquerade and reveal to Sid that toys are alive, scaring the hell out of him]].

** Starting in ''Film/JohnWickChapter2'', John becomes increasingly frustrated with continually being dragged back into the underworld by its rules, culminating in him [[spoiler:blatantly violating a TruceZone when his enemy Santino takes refuge in the Continental and John kills him anyway, being too angry at this point to ''care'' about the rules]]. In John's defense, [[spoiler:Santino made it clear he was going to keep [[LoopholeAbuse abusing the TruceZone to keep ordering more attacks on John, so it may have been a case of TakingYouWithMe]].

** ''Film/JohnWick'': Perkins murders another assassin while escaping from the Continental after John subdues her. [[spoiler:Winston has her executed for this.]]
** Starting in ''Film/JohnWickChapter2'', John becomes increasingly frustrated with continually being dragged back into the underworld by its rules, culminating in him [[spoiler:blatantly violating a TruceZone when his enemy Santino takes refuge in the Continental and John kills him anyway, being too angry at this point to ''care'' about the rules]].

* ''Playing to Win: Becoming the Champion'' by David Sirlin is a book about his experiences in competitive ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' tournaments and his Play to Win philosophy on competitive gaming. In one tournament when facing a superior opponent, Sirlin adopted a purely defensive strategy and was simply repeating a block move over and over. His opponent was so unprepared for that that he essentially defeated himself by running his character into that defense over and over and taking a bit of damage each time till his character was knocked out. Sirlin talks how certain strategies are considered "cheap" by the people playing a game but are actually perfectly legal and will win you the game if applied correctly.
* Former US President Creator/DonaldTrump refused to release his tax returns either while campaigning or after taking office, despite it being [[https://www.investopedia.com/history-of-presidents-and-federal-income-tax-what-s-normal-5080237 something previous presidential candidates had traditionally done]] since TheSeventies (ostensibly intended to show they have nothing in their financial lives worth hiding, {{blackmail}} vulnerabilities for example). He got away with this while in office because there isn't a specific law against withholding his tax records from the public, meaning that nobody can actually make him release them simply for being a presidential candidate or elected official. The subpoenas of his returns as part of criminal or Congressional investigations are a separate issue, and eventually succeeded despite his best efforts. %%Seriously, just don't.
* The non-fiction book ''How Democracies Die'' argues in part that because no system of laws can cover every eventuality, democratic governance requires political actors to restrain themselves in their use of power and adhere to unwritten norms. The increasing polarization in the United States from about TheNineties on is attributed in part to (primarily) Republican Party officials breaking those norms (e.g. abusing the filibuster and procedural rules) and then their Democratic opponents reciprocating. The authors are interviewed about the topic on Creator/{{NPR}}'s TalkShow ''Fresh Air'' [[https://www.npr.org/2018/01/22/579670528/how-democracies-die-authors-say-trump-is-a-symptom-of-deeper-problems here]]. %%Stop "both sides"ing this, the authors explicitly blame the Republicans as the primary instigators. See the linked transcript.
** This is the problem with "political conventions" in general, they ''only'' work as long as everyone willingly adheres to them - it works on an honor system, and when a politician who cares little for such a thing decides the political calculus benefits them to break conventions, there is no incentive to dissuade them from doing so. The right-wing side of politics has generally been more eager to abuse this trope in recent years, with more left-wing politicians being more inclined to strengthen and codify rules to curb said abuse.
* This is a common problem with bodies of "international law", such as the International Criminal Court. There simply isn't a body with the ability to actually ''enforce'' breakings of international law when a given nation doesn't consider the offender to have broken its own laws, barring a stronger nation that can force the other one to submit. One of the most infamous cases is the American Service-Member's Protection Act, passed by the Bush Administration--more or less, if the Hague tries to imprison someone for war crimes and the President doesn't want that to happen, they are given no legal repercussions from using any means to break that person out. The law is unofficially nicknamed the "Hague Invasion Act", since it also authorizes the US military to [[AppealToForce invade the Netherlands to retrieve anyone the ICC manages to take into custody through other means]].
* Anarchist egoists like Max Stirner argued that notions like property rights, the law, morality and the political state were all "ghosts in the mind", and that the only things that truly existed were the ways in which real people physically interacted with each other. Some anarchist egoists today take this to mean that they should fight back against the very concept of "the rules", because they do not exist in the real world.

* In UsefulNotes/AmericanGunPolitics, a common argument by gun rights activists is that restrictions on gun ownership will only punish law-abiding citizens; criminals obviously won't care about the laws. One common counterargument, however, is to point to countries like the UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom, where criminal penalties are severely ramped up if a suspect is caught with a gun. As a consequence, the majority of criminals don't think it's worth it to carry a gun.
* [[https://www.naturalhistorymag.com/htmlsite/master.html?https://www.naturalhistorymag.com/htmlsite/editors_pick/1996_06_pick.html PhD candidate Truman P. Young]] was studying high-altitude plants in Mount Kenya National Park when his study was interrupted by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_hyrax rock hyraxes]] stealing his food and plant identification tags. After several bouts of tossing pebbles at them to scare them away from an imaginary line, Young received a supply shipment containing a spring-loaded suction cup dart gun he'd requested to deal with the hyraxes. However, by now the hyraxes had memorized the location of the line, even tiptoeing around it when he was present seemingly just to annoy him. Young finally got fed up and took a shot at one of the hyraxes--which he'd nicknamed Elizabeth--anyway.
-->"It was a perfect shot. The dart hit true and rebounded harmlessly a few feet away. Elizabeth let out a little squeak and bounced back herself. She gave me look of outraged disbelief. It was not the new weapon or my marksmanship that amazed her. It was that she was hit on her side of the line. I had broken the rules. I managed to suppress a twinge of guilt. I had no conscience. I was in charge."
** Then the hyrax ''[[ScrewTheRulesTheyBrokeThemFirst stole the dart!]]''

** As an example, after he crippled the head of the Yoshioka school of marital arts (by delivering a blow that shattered the man's shoulder and arm) and then killed the successor in another duel, Musashi was challenged to ''another'' duel by the next successor, a 12 year old boy. Since he was nowhere near the skill of his predecessors, Musashi was informed that the boy would be using a surrogate to fight in his place, which turned out to be a small army of the Yoshioka's followers. Unluckily for the Yoshioka, Musashi had quietly camped out at the declared venue the night before and so was able to launch a counter-ambush, [[StraightForTheCommander killing the boy]] before anyone could react, and then fleeing while the gathered men were reeling from the shock. While he was decried as a DirtyCoward and a murderer for slaying the boy, [[ExactWords Musashi pointed out that the formal letter of challenge gave his name and the boy's name, and so him killing the boy was perfectly appropriate]].

** Played with in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'', though, as there is a good reason why, while all pirate characters [[LoopholeAbuse bend the ever-living hell out of the Code to suit their needs]], they never actually violate the ExactWords, and that reason is [[TheDreaded Captain Edward Teague]], the Keeper of the Code. When one of the Indian pirates [[CerebusCallback says the Code is "more like guidelines" without knowing Teague was present]], [[AppealToForce Teague immediately shoots him dead]] and makes all of the other pirates in the room, the so-called "Pirate Kings" included, [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority immediately ditch that train of thought.]]

* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/35531437/chapters/88576183 Miraculous (the whole world against us remix)]]'': Plagg sees the laws created by the Guardians or other humans as mere guidelines, not absolutes like the laws of physics. While he agrees with Tikki that [[SecretIdentity secret identities]] are important for safety, he also thinks it's worth the risk to allow Marinette and Adrien to keep their Miraculous even after they found out each other's identities, especially since the two are decent wielders and can each other and both Kwammis as emotional support.

** Many {{Muggles}} on the Discworld believe that wizards have a strict rule against using magic against them. Several who have pushed the point with Archchancellor Ridcully have been summarily informed it's "more of a guideline, really" before (or after) being hit with a BalefulPolymorph.

** Jonathan Teatime in ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'' is a terror amongst the [[MurderInc Assassin's Guild]] because he approaches all of his assignments with an "extreme prejudice" mentality (read: KillThemAll, in the goriest fashion possible) instead of following the Guild's rules (read: we kill the people you pay us to kill [[ExactWords and no more]], and [[EvenEvilHasStandards there's people we won't kill no matter what]]). Although he points out they aren't actually rules, because to most Assassins, being "not the done thing" is far more important than a mere rule.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Erfworld}}'', [[GreyAndGreyMorality Parson's]] specialty is LoopholeAbuse, which first requires he ignore all the implicit rules of what fighting a war looks like. This is also deconstructed. His outside the box tactics are often very effective, but tactics such as [[ISurrenderSuckers false surrenders]] and [[KillEmAll mass]] [[AnimateDead Decryption]] mean he is seen as an untrustworthy monster and removed diplomacy as an option.

** As an example, after he crippled the head of the Yoshioka school of marital arts (by delivering a blow that shattered the man's shoulder and arm) and then killed the successor in another duel, Musashi was challenged to ''another'' duel by the next successor, a 12 year old boy. Since he was nowhere near the skill of his predecessors, Musashi was informed that the boy would be using a surrogate to fight in his place. Said surrogate turned out to be a small army of the Yoshioka's followers. Unluckily for the Yoshioka, Musashi had quietly camped out at the declared venue the night before and so was able to launch a counter-ambush, [[StraightForTheCommander killing the boy]] before anyone could react, and then fleeing while the gathered men were reeling from the shock. While he was decried as a DirtyCoward and a murderer for slaying the boy, [[ExactWords Musashi pointed out that the formal letter of challenge gave his name and the boy's name, and so him killing the boy was perfectly appropriate]].

* AchievementsInIgnorance happen when characters break rules they didn't even know about.

** Naturally, Captain Tagon [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2003-05-11 lives]] [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-04-29 by]] [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-02-24 it,]] as [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-08-20 does his crew.]]

* In ''Webcomic/{{Erfworld}}'', Parson's specialty is LoopholeAbuse, which first requires he ignore all the implicit rules of what fighting a war looks like. This is also deconstructed. His outside the box tactics are often very effective, but tactics such as [[ISurrenderSuckers false surrenders]] and [[KillEmAll mass]] [[AnimateDead Decryption]] mean he is seen ([[GreyAndGreyMorality arguably rightly]]) as an untrustworthy monster and removed diplomacy as an option.

** ''Film/JohnWick'':
*** Marcus attempts to snipe John from a rooftop across the street from John's hotel room. This is clearly against the spirit of the TruceZone rule; it's unclear whether Marcus thought he could get away clean or if he perhaps thought shooting ''into'' the Continental from across the street was [[LoopholeAbuse a gray area]]. In any case, [[spoiler:Marcus loses his nerve when he actually sees John, and then shoots his old friend's pillow to alert him to Perkins breaking into his room]].
*** For her part, Perkins murders another assassin escaping from the Continental after John subdues her. [[spoiler:Winston has her executed for this.]]

* This is a common problem with bodies of "international law", such as the International Criminal Court. There simply isn't a body with the ability to actually ''enforce'' breakings of international law when a given nation doesn't consider the offender to have broken its own laws, barring a stronger nation that can force the other one to submit. One of the most infamous cases is the American Service-Member's Protection Act, passed by the Bush Administration--more or less, if the Hague tries to imprison someone for war crimes and the President doesn't want that to happen, they are given no legal repercussions from using any means to break that person out.

** Ender repeatedly breaks the conventions of Battle School's wargames through innovative tactics such as having his teammates use their StunGuns on their own suits so that teammates can use them as {{Bulletproof Human Shield}}s, or simply bullrushing a scenario the instructors deliberately slanted against his side to exploit the InstantWinCondition, [[spoiler:a tactic he ultimately repeats in (what he thinks is a simulation for) the final assault on the Formic homeworld]].