History Main / ThereShouldBeALaw

* The United States initially didn't have set term limits for UsefulNotes/{{the presiden|ts}}cy, but those in the position generally limited themselves to two terms at most out of tradition (keeping in line with UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington's refusal to seek a third term). Only after UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt controversially won an unprecedented ''four'' terms did the tradition finally become legislation, with the 22nd amendment limiting presidents to a two-term maximum.

* In Creator/JonStewart's ''Literature/AmericaTheBook'', it's stated [[UsefulNotes/ThePresidents the President of the United States]] may say things like "There ought to be a law!", but he cannot make that law. He can only sign or not sign a law passed by the Congress. Sometimes, this can make the President feel like a pussy. Then he remembers that he still has control over the military, and a small island nation gets a can of "police action" opened up on it.

* ''ComicBook/MarvelAdventures: Super Heroes'' Issue #14: ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} and the Blonde Phantom join forces to hunt a gang of criminals using a [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Bruce Banner]] lookalike to scare people, leading to this conversation:

* In ''ComicBook/XMen Noir'', ComicBook/{{Professor X}}avier taught the students at his reform school how to be better criminals instead of actually reforming them. He claims this was an exercise in gaining their trust. When one of his students took a dive off the roof, the investigation uncovered his operation. The X-Men escaped, but Xavier wasn't so lucky. He's sitting in Riker's until the D.A. can figure out just what to charge him with; there's really no law against giving someone boxing lessons, teaching them how to pick a lock, or taking them to the firing range.[[note]]In real-life this would be covered under criminal conspiracy laws, which take into account intention and planning, even if the person being charged did not actually take part in a crime.[[/note]]

* In the early '90s ComicBook/{{Justice Society|OfAmerica}} miniseries, ComicBook/BlackCanary wisecracks while fighting some thugs that "Handguns are just too easy to get these days! There oughta be a law!" This annoyed a letter-writer who took it as social commentary, but it was meant as a knowing wink at the existence of gun-control laws in later decades.

** A variation of the argument for banning the sale of violent games was the insistence that the UsefulNotes/EntertainmentSoftwareRatingsBoard (ESRB) rating on the packaging be made larger, which most people pointed out was ridiculous since movie ratings on [=DVDs=] are ''minuscule'' in comparison and are only featured on the back, whereas ESRB ratings are large enough easily spotted, are far more descriptive concerning software content, and are on both sides of the package.

** A [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped justified]] version occurred in the episode "Ridicule" in which a male stripper was raped by three women. Since the law defined rape as involving penetration of the victim, as opposed to the penetration of the ''rapist'' that had taken place in this case, the defendant's first move was to contest the idea that what she did could be considered rape under the law. In a technical sense she actually had a scarily good case, highlighting the outdated definitions contained in many real life rape laws.

** The episode "Prey" had a stalker AssholeVictim who had already caused a victim to kill herself while performing actions that were either legal or only warranted a slap on the wrist. The whole episode was an {{Anvilicious}} tirade on how the law does very little to protect people from stalkers (though it may fall into SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped).

See also AndThatsTerrible and IsNothingSacred In sports, this is the sadistic version of LoopholeAbuse. If a law ''is'' passed to deal with the situation, it's likely an ObviousRulePatch.

** Generally speaking there AintNoRule about Ex Post Facto laws ''in favor'' of the people - for example if "buggery" (whatever that terms means in the specific circumstances) was illegal at the time the act was committed but legalized before the verdict was reached the defendant would not be convicted. Similar things apply in tax law - a retroactive tax ''cut'' is a-ok. A retroactive tax ''increase'' is a different ball of wax.

** The episode "Imposter" takes this to its logical conclusion. It features a man pretending to be the Director of Admissions at Hudson University, and using that to sleep with desperate mothers who want their children to get into Hudson in a quid pro quo exchange. Benson immediately declares it to be rape, but some of the other detectives are less certain, pointing out ''everyone'' lies to get sex. ADA Barba acknowledges that this ''is'' rape by fraud, which unfortunately New York has no laws against. He and Benson decide to take it to trial, hoping that this will bring the issue to the forefront and get the proper law passed. The judge isn't particularly impressed, and only lets it go on because kicking a rape case is ''very'' bad PR. The defense lawyer doesn't call any witnesses, and instead says that while she finds her client's behavior morally repugnant, it isn't illegal, so the jury has to find him not guilty. The judge then takes them both aside and "advices" Barba to offer a plea, and stresses the defense lawyer to take it as she's "a reasonable woman" and knows her client is an awful person. Barba makes a deal, as he recognizes that even if he does get a conviction, the judge will overturn it, as there is in fact no law being broken.

* In the real world, ''[[ImAHumanitarian cannibalism]]'' is not technically illegal in many countries -- no-one ever thought they'd ''need'' it to be. This has led to some... interesting trials. Murder charges cover it in the event that the doer killed the person first [[note]]as ruled in R v Dudley and Stephens, killing someone to ensure your own survival is not a valid excuse for murder, even when there is no other viable options available[[/note]], but not if the "victim" died of causes having nothing to do with the perpetrator.

** "Magnificat" has a heart-wrenching example in the case of Paul Whitlock, an extreme emotional abuser whose wife kills three of their four children in a botched murder-suicide attempt. It becomes clear that Whitlock was responsible for pushing his wife to the edge, but because he didn't actually have a direct hand in the incident, there is no way for him to be held legally accountable. Everyone involved is understandably upset by this fact.

** A more "reasonable" example occurs when they want to prosecute a reproductive abuser who gets woman pregnant without their knowledge (usually by poking holes in condoms) but there are no laws that cover his specific crimes (though they do later arrest him for facilitating an illegal adoption of one of his kids). Incidentally, the law ''has'' changed in this respect in the years since the episode aired; today, they might be able to charge his actions as a form of rape, on the basis that the women only consented to protected sex and he knowingly changed the circumstances of the encounters, making them potentially non-consensual.

* ''ComicBook/MarvelAdventures: Super Heroes'' Issue #14: ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} and the Blonde Phantom join forces to hunt a gang of criminals using a [[ComicBook/TheHulk Bruce Banner]] lookalike to scare people, leading to this conversation:

* In ''ComicBook/XMen Noir'', Professor Xavier taught the students at his reform school how to be better criminals instead of actually reforming them. He claims this was an exercise in gaining their trust. When one of his students took a dive off the roof, the investigation uncovered his operation. The X-Men escaped, but Xavier wasn't so lucky. He's sitting in Riker's until the D.A. can figure out just what to charge him with; there's really no law against giving someone boxing lessons, teaching them how to pick a lock, or taking them to the firing range.[[note]]In real-life this would be covered under criminal conspiracy laws, which take into account intention and planning, even if the person being charged did not actually take part in a crime.[[/note]]

* In the early '90s Justice Society miniseries, ComicBook/BlackCanary wisecracks while fighting some thugs that "Handguns are just too easy to get these days! There oughta be a law!" This annoyed a letter-writer who took it as social commentary, but it was meant as a knowing wink at the existence of gun-control laws in later decades.

* ''Film/{{Victim}}'': {{Inverted}} -- the film's clear message is there should ''not'' be one criminalizing homosexual relations, as it only leads to gay men getting blackmailed as they're forcibly stuck in the closet.

* In Creator/JonStewart's ''Literature/AmericaTheBook'', it's stated the President of the United States may say things like "There ought to be a law!", but he cannot make that law. He can only sign or not sign a law passed by the Congress. Sometimes, this can make the President feel like a pussy. Then he remembers that he still has control over the military, and a small island nation gets a can of "police action" opened up on it.

** In "Babes", a teenage girl apparently commits suicide after being cruelly cyberbullied by her friend's mother. Unfortunately, there's no law on the books against cyberbullying, so the ADA has to try to twist some less-specific charges to fit. She's able to get to trial with it, but [[spoiler:it's rendered moot when they learn that the girl was murdered rather than committing suicide.]]

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' has this between the Chairman and the Director when it comes to light that [[spoiler: the Director tortured an AI copy of himself to get personality-fragments.]] When confronted with the evidence, the culprit openly admits to the act, but points out that it wasn't illegal because [[spoiler: he did it to "himself".]] Shortly thereafter, a whole battery of laws are passed to prevent things like this from happening again, and there's talk of naming them after the culprit.

* During World War II, the Imperial Japanese armed forces killed and ate [=POWs=] and indigenous peoples of the countries they occupied. Since cannibalism was not technically a war crime, they were tried for murder and "prevention of honorable burial", resulting in at least one death sentence.
* There's the case of Megan Meier, who killed herself after a cute boy she had friended on Website/MySpace told her the world would be a better place without her. The cute boy in question turned out to have been a fabrication made by the mother of Megan's former friend, a few neighborhood girls, and an 18-year-old working for the mother. Despite local and internet outrage, the Drews, the family that fabricated the boy, didn't get arrested, because local authorities have not found any law broken under which their actions apply. However, [[ConvictedByPublicOpinion it didn't stop the entire town from permanently shunning those involved]] or [[LaserGuidedKarma having some of them post their addresses and other personal information online so out-of-towners could harass and vandalize them]].
* When a man died from a perforated rectum [[{{Squick}} after having sex with a horse]] in Washington State, it received a lot of media attention. When the press also noted that bestiality was not a crime there, the legislature soon reinstated a disused law against it. One of the other men involved ''was'' charged with a crime relating to the incident, but it was for trespassing on the farm where the horse owners were unaware of the shenanigans, which got him only one year in jail. Nobody involved could be charged with animal abuse either, since the horses certainly weren't injured.

* Many of the laws against incest in America came around largely in the late 19th century following the Civil War, probably due to someone playing this trope straight. It might also explain where the stereotype of inbred Southerners came from since the practice was more common in the South. Interestingly some states subverted the trope by relaxing these laws, such as Rhode Island and New Jersey completely legalizing (in RI's case)/failing to forbid (in NJ's case) ''any'' form of consensual incest (although, we should note, both still forbid incestuous marriages).

* Child pornography laws were only codified in TheSeventies in many countries (TheNineties for Japan), because its existence was unknown to most people and there was an explosion of its availability during this period. The [[http://porn-report.com/ Meese Report]] documents printed CP being sold in US cities' adult shops as late as 1986. A [[http://time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,983116,00.html 1995 issue of TIME]] reported to a shocked populace that there was 1) [[NewMediaAreEvil porn on the internet]] and 2) [[{{Squick}} such a thing as "pedophilia"]]. And in fact, upon learning that TheInternetIsForPorn, they (the US Congress) did pass a law against it, the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_Decency_Act Communications Decency Act of 1996]]. However, it was extremely broad in some of its language, and could have been used to prosecute any person who uploaded pornography on the Internet in a manner that a minor could access (because [[SarcasmMode we all know minors don't lie about their age]]). It was struck down by the US Supreme Court the following year (Reno vs. ACLU), and another act with the same intent, the Child Online Protection Act of 1998, was blocked almost immediately after it was passed, and also later struck down by the Supreme Court.

* In his book ''I'm a Stranger Here Myself'' (a.k.a. ''Notes from a Big Country'' in the UK), Creator/BillBryson talked about American politician Newt Gingrich [[DisproportionateRetribution calling for the ''death penalty'']] for [[FelonyMisdemeanor pot users,]] then followed it up with a proposal for a law making it a crime to be Newt Gingrich.

** There are laws preventing the sale of sexually explicit content to children, but they are not (and can never be) tied to the MPAA rating-system. There are no such laws for violent content, in large part because it's harder to draw the line (with sexually explicit content, the rule is easily "don't show boobs or privates;" with violence... how do you even ''define'' that?).

* As of 3/7/14, Massachusetts passed a law to make "upskirting" (surreptitiously taking pictures of women's underwear under their skirts) after it turned out it didn't qualify under the existing Peeping Tom statute because the women weren't "partially or fully naked." The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision that ruled the Peeping Tom statute didn't apply was widely criticized [[note]]though most people who understand law agreed the Court had done the right thing (under the "principle of legality," everything which is not forbidden is permitted, and the statute was pretty clear the subject of the picture had to be at least partly nude)[[/note]], but in reality, the full text of the opinion more or less said, "this ''should'' be illegal, but there's no law on the books that covers it."

** In another, he brings a senior executive that wouldn't promote his female employees unless they slept with him up on extortion charges, arguing that his behavior is the same as if [[ProtectionRacket common mobsters were shaking someone down for protection]]. The defense is livid at the notion, and TheJudge admits that this is an unorthodox reading of the law, but is willing to allow it anyway and let the jury and/or appellate courts deal with the fallout, arguing that if the defendant's behavior was bad enough to set a new legal precedent, that's ''his'' problem.

** One case involved a 17-year-old girl who had a disease which made her [[OlderThanTheyLook look perpetually 10]]. The only men who would date her were pedophiles, and the officers kept trying to arrest her boyfriends for it. The judge ultimately rules that even if the men are only attracted to her because of how young she looks (not that they admit it) she ''is'' of legal age and there is no crime being committed. The consequences of this are shown when the two kiss on the sidewalk and a different detective tries to arrest the man. Stabler explains the situation, and reminds the girl this will probably happen all her life. She feels that having some kind of a relationship is worth it.
** One example deals with a grown woman having an [[OedipusComplex Electra Complex]] affair with her father; when one of the detectives fights to get them arrested for the relationship, she learns...

** A [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped justified]] version occurred in the episode in which a male stripper was raped by three women. Since the law defined rape as involving penetration of the victim, as opposed to the penetration of the ''rapist'' that had taken place in this case, the defendant's first move was to contest the idea that what she did could be considered rape under the law. In a technical sense she actually had a scarily good case, highlighting the outdated definitions contained in many real life rape laws.

** In one episode, a teenage girl apparently commits suicide after being cruelly cyberbullied by her friend's mother. Unfortunately, there's no law on the books against cyberbullying, so the ADA has to try to twist some less-specific charges to fit. She's able to get to trial with it, but [[spoiler:it's rendered moot when they learn that the girl was murdered rather than committing suicide.]]
** An early episode features Cabot going after a life insurance company for murder because they failed to inform the health department (who would, in turn, have notified the patient) about a patient's case of syphilis, which allowed the disease to go untreated until it destroyed the patient's brain, causing him to become delusional and believe that God was commanding him to kill.[[note]]The failure to report would, in fact, have been considered a crime, however Cabot apparently didn't believe the consequences on a technical violation of that sort would be serious enough.[[/note]]

** There was an episode where a man had built a sex dungeon and made it clear that he fantasized about using it for young boys. He even lived across the street from a school and frequently watched the kids on the playground. However, he had no direct interaction with the children, possessed no child pornography, and didn't even associate with other pedophiles, so there was nothing the police could do about it. They spent the whole episode trying to catch him on something, but the ruling was that they couldn't prosecute him for something he hadn't done.

* In the United States legislating from the bench is considered something to be avoided, due to the spirit of Checks and Balances. However many a judge will make write in their judicial opinion that the applicable legislature should in fact make a law and/or regulation to prevent a case like this happening again.

** A more "reasonable" example occurs when they want to prosecute a reproductive abuser who gets woman pregnant without their knowledge (usually by poking holes in condoms) but there are no laws that cover his specific crimes (though they do later arrest him for facilitating an illegal adoption of one of his kids). Under today's laws, they might be able to charge his actions as rape (on the basis that the women only consented to protected sex and he knowingly changed the circumstances of the encounters, making them potentially non-consensual), but that idea didn't make its way into law until several years after the episode aired.

* Surprisingly, the only parts of America that have laws specifically outlawing first-cousin marriage are the areas that are known for having family trees that don't fork. As the Creator/JeffFoxworthy joke goes, "everywhere else it's common sense." North Carolina's is the most hilariously specific: allowing first cousin marriages, but specifically prohibiting ''double'' cousin marriages. Though there's no real correlation between "places you think of as having inbred yokels" and "cousin marriage being illegal."

* ''WebOriginal/SMPEarth'' originally had very few rules, aside from "don't cheat". Laws did end up being drafted after LetsPlay/{{Technoblade}} figured out that the land claim mechanic from the Factions-plugin registered unclaimed land as "yours" if it was surrounded by land you had claimed, then recruited his faction-mate LetsPlay/{{Philza}} to create a massive square of land claims in order to claim ''[[TakingOverTheWorld the entire world]]''. The admins ended up not punishing them as what they did was perfectly within the rules, but they did force them to unclaim everything and immediately wrote some new rules to stop people taking over the world again.

* The phrase is occasionally used in ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' stories, almost always with a Judge around to respond, "There is." In one instance there really was no law to fit the crime, when an old man tried to bury his recently deceased wife in an open plot in a graveyard after he couldn't pay for it. While this wasn't illegal in itself, Dredd charged him with trespassing.

!!Examples

[[folder:ComicBooks]]
* ''There Oughta Be A Law!'', a newspaper comic (1948-1984) about daily annoyances and hypocrisy.

--> '''Jen''': But what ''are'' these monsters? What is this... mazeworld? Isn't there some type of ''law'' against these monsters?
--> '''Ace''': [...] and as for the ''law'' around here... I'm afraid '[[LawfulEvil those monsters]]' are ''[[TheBadGuysAreCops it]]''.

* In ''ComicBook/XMen Noir'', Professor Xavier taught the students at his reform school how to be better criminals instead of actually reforming them. He claims this was an exercise in gaining their trust. When one of his students took a dive off the roof, the investigation uncovered his operation. The X-Men escaped, but Xavier wasn't so lucky. He's sitting in Riker's until the D.A. can figure out just what to charge him with; there's really no law against giving someone boxing lessons, teaching them how to pick a lock, or taking them to the firing range.[[note]] In real-life this would be covered under criminal conspiracy laws, which take into account intention and planning, even if the person being charged did not actually take part in a crime.[[/note]]

* An early Marvel parody comic satirising UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode had a group of villains compaining about the clause that enforced TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin:
--> "Knowing us baddies always gotta lose!"
--> "There oughta be a law!"
--> "There is! That's '''why''' we lose!"
* Parodies in the popular ''Magazine/{{Mad}}'' article, "New Laws Congress Should Pass Right Now", which later begot a sequel.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

--> There should be a rule that the song under the credits,
--> Remotely pertains to the movie's basic plot.
--> That rule has not been made, so for now we'll have to say
--> Hey, hey, hey hey, hey hey hey hey!

* ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'':
--> '''Worf:''' Romulan ale should be illegal.
--> '''Geordi:''' [[SubvertedTrope It is]].
--> '''Worf:''' Then it should be ''more'' illegal.
** Ironically, Romulan ale actually ''shouldn't'' be illegal at this point; the trade embargo against it had been lifted three years earlier, [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine after the Romulans joined the Federation in the Dominion War]], with no indication (until ''Nemesis'') that the embargo was reinstated afterwards.

* ''{{Film/Victim}}'': {{Inverted}}-the film's clear message is there should ''not'' be one criminalizing homosexual relations, as it only leads to gay men getting blackmailed as they're forcibly stuck in the closet.

** Used a huge amount in the Ankh-Morpork City Watch sub-series, as Commander Vimes has a very strong moral code, and frequently is filled with righteous anger. This is especially used in ''Literature/{{Snuff}}'', when [[spoiler: Commander Vimes is horrified at how Goblins are treated like vermin, rather than people, and insists that the law should be changed to give them all the rights of a normal person. He does this in the usual Vimesey way, of course: by swearing in a Goblin policeman]]. This is played realistically in the end: [[spoiler:While the laws worldwide are changed to recognize the goblins' personhood, the murderer of a goblin girl cannot be charged even then because it wasn't illegal at the time. Vimes' HypercompetentSidekick handles that problem with a VigilanteExecution]].
** Also occasionally Vimes makes sarcastic remarks saying "There should be a Law against being bloody stupid," to which Corporal Littlebottom calmly replies "If so, sir, we'd never be off overtime."
*** Ankh-Morpork actually '''does''' have a Being Bloody Stupid Act, though it's rarely enforced, probably because, as mentioned above, the Watch doesn't have enough time or available cells to arrest everyone who violates it.

** Parodied when don Quixote doesn’t want to pay for a day in an inn; he tells the Innkeeper there should be a law that forces HospitalityForHeroes on {{Knight Errant}}s like himself.
** Parodied again when don Quixote wants to suggest to the King of Spain that he must fight TheEmpire of UsefulNotes/TurksWithTroops making a law where [[GondorCallsForAid Spain Calls For Aid]] to all the Christian {{Knight Errant}}s.

* In ''Literature/ACivilCampaign'', one of the Counts has come up with a scheme: He collects all the viable ova that would have been discarded by fertility clinics in his district, and has them fertilised to be gestated in Uterine Replicators, ending up with over a hundred new daughters. Dismayed by this, one character remarks that there "ought to be a law..." but Miles points out that there isn't--nothing that the Count has done is currently illegal, and when a new law ''is'' written to cover this, it can't be applied retroactively. Fortunately, Miles, his friends, and the Emperor are all masters of LaserGuidedKarma:
-->[[spoiler: "Dowries!? ''A hundred and eighteen '''Dowries'''!''"]]

* Literature/SherlockHolmes: In "A Case of Identity," Holmes figures out the identity of the wrongdoer- who became engaged to his stepdaughter under a fake identity and then staged the disappearance of his other self so that she wouldn't move out of his house and thus deprive him of her share of her mother's wealth- who is very quick to point out that he hasn't broken any law.
-->“The law cannot, as you say, touch you,” said Holmes, unlocking and throwing open the door, “yet there never was a man who deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!” he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon the man’s face, “it is not part of my duties to my client, but here’s a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat myself to—” He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see [[spoiler: Mr. James Windibank]] running at the top of his speed down the road.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''[[Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit Law & Order: SVU]]'' does this quite a bit, naturally.

--->'''Olivia:''' ''Adult incest'' isn't a crime?
--->'''Casey:''' Not a sex crime. It's an E felony; he'd get... probation.

** A different episode featured recorded video footage. The [=ADA=] compares this case to another one that got a conviction whereas this one won't and comments that it isn't wiretapping because there is no audio and laments that the law has yet to [[TechnologyMarchesOn catch up to technology]].

* ''Series/LawAndOrder'': On numerous occasions, [=McCoy=] put the "depraved indifference homicide" law to an unintended use, to punish tangentially-related businesses or individuals who shared responsibility for the deaths in question, often dealing out the people who actually pulled the trigger to testify against them. Basically, legislating from the courtroom, which is itself incredibly illegal in modern systems. The judiciary ''enforces'' the laws as they are, it doesn't make them. Sometimes he'd win, sometimes they'd deal out for restitution to avoid jail, and sometimes judges actually recognized when he'd legitimately gone too far. Some examples:

--->'''Clerk:''' These kids were in here. Trying to get all kinds of hardcore stuff. Can you believe it? There oughtta be a law!
--->'''Cerreta:''' There IS a law.

--->'''Goren:''' He could have prevented this crime, but he won't take responsibility for that! Mr. Carver! Isn't there something in this book that can make him take responsibility for that?
--->'''Carver:''' ''(regretfully)'' There wasn't when I checked this morning.

* ''Series/ThePractice'' did this constantly - most cases were thinly-disguised [[WriterOnBoard attempts to promote one agenda or another]].

[[folder: Web Original]]

* In the "Lawnchair Larry" incident that was recorded in the ''Website/DarwinAwards'' site (a man attached a large number of helium balloons to his lawnchair, achieved liftoff, and could not get down when he floated higher than expected), it was mentioned that the local FAA representative said that they'd like to charge him, if only they could figure out what for. Given that Larry eventually had to pay a number of fines, they must have found a way to cover his stunt in the regulations somehow.

* ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo''

--->'''Park owner''': I would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for you meddling kids and your dog!
--->'''Velma''': Actually, you ''did'' get away with it! You didn't do anything illegal!

-->'''Ratchet''': It's primitive... it's barbaric... there ought to be a law against it!
-->'''Optimus Prime''': It's just an auto supply store, Ratchet.
-->'''Ratchet''': You mean they actually sell ''spare parts'' on the ''open market''?

---> '''Homer:''' You know! It's not... usual. If there was a law, it'd be against it!
* On an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Beetlejuice}}'' the Ghost with the Most says, "[[HypocriticalHumor Rules...there ought to be a law against them!]]!

* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "Internal Affairs" Joe and Bonnie have a falling out. After Joe tells Peter his first date took place at a strip club, Peter and Lois try to get the two to reunite there. Lois has lunch with Bonnie there, leaving Peter to bring Joe. He does that by calling the police and telling Joe there is a problem.
-->'''Peter''': Well, one of the dancers was dancing with a guy and saying, "You're my favorite, you're my favorite," but now she's dancing with another guy.\\
'''Joe''': That's not a crime.\\
'''Peter''': Well, shouldn't it be?!
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' episode where Squidward moves into Tentacle Acres, a cephalopod only gated community, after yet another one of Spongebob's shenanigans, he eventually becomes so bored of how monotonous his routine's become, that he starts behaving much like Spongebob. When the citizens corner him and try to evict him for citing all the nuisances they listed against him, he retorts with:

* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': A rare example of someone doing this to themselves. Apothecary Sherry sells yada-yada berries, which have no purpose besides [[TakenForGranite turning people to stone]]. She fully admits that they should probably be illegal, but they're not, so no one can punish her for selling them.

* In the real world, ''[[ImAHumanitarian cannibalism]]'' is not technically illegal in many countries -- no one ever thought they'd ''need'' it to be. This has led to some... interesting trials. Murder charges cover it in the event that the doer killed the person first [[note]]as ruled in R v Dudley and Stephens, killing someone to ensure your own survival is not a valid excuse for murder, even when there is no other viable options available[[/note]], but not if the "victim" died of causes having nothing to do with the perpetrator.

** In Japan, a man underwent surgery to [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/24/asexual-mao-sugiyama-cooks-serves-own-genitals_n_1543307.html remove his genitals and then served them as food]] to quite a few people. Japan has no specific law against cannibalism, and since no one was murdered or even injured, the police couldn't charge him at first. Eventually he was charged with showing obscene materials, even though everyone who had attended the "banquet" knew what they were getting into.

* When a man died from a perforated rectum [[{{Squick}} after having sex with a horse]] in Washington State, it received a lot of media attention. When the press also noted that bestiality was not a crime there, the legislature soon reinstated a disused law against it.
** One of the other men involved ''was'' charged with a crime relating to the incident, but it was for trespassing on the farm where the horse owners were unaware of the shenanigans, which got him only one year in jail. Nobody involved could be charged with animal abuse either, since the horses certainly weren't injured.

** Many of the laws against incest in America came around largely in the late 19th century following the Civil War, probably due to someone playing this trope straight. It might also explain where the stereotype of inbred Southerners came from since the practice was more common in the South. Interestingly some states subverted the trope by relaxing these laws, such as Rhode Island and New Jersey completely legalizing (in RI's case)/failing to forbid (in NJ's case) ''any'' form of consensual incest (although, we should note, both still forbid incestuous marriages).

* Fans of UsefulNotes/CollegiateAmericanFootball have demanded a playoff system to determine a national champion for several years. When the colleges largely responded they were uninterested or only lukewarm about the idea, many fans began demanding a law be found/created at the Federal level that would ''force'' a U.S. college football playoff into existence.
** Not necessarily as oddball as it seems, since many state legislatures impose regulations on the league (such as mandating that certain teams play other teams once a year). States are permitted to do this because their laws govern the actions of public schools in the state, and if enough public schools have to do something, they will pressure private schools into accepting the rule.
* Child pornography laws were only codified in TheSeventies in many countries (TheNineties for Japan), because its existence was unknown to most people and there was an explosion of its availability during this period. The [[http://porn-report.com/ Meese Report]] documents printed CP being sold in US cities' adult shops as late as 1986. A [[http://time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,983116,00.html 1995 issue of TIME]] reported to a shocked populace that there was 1) [[NewMediaAreEvil porn on the internet]] and 2) [[{{Squick}} such a thing as 'pedophilia']].
** And in fact, upon learning that TheInternetIsForPorn, they (the US Congress) did pass a law against it, the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_Decency_Act Communications Decency Act of 1996]]. However, it was extremely broad in some of its language, and could have been used to prosecute any person who uploaded pornography on the Internet in a manner that a minor could access (because [[SarcasmMode we all know minors don't lie about their age]]). It was struck down by the US Supreme Court the following year (Reno vs. ACLU), and another act with the same intent, the Child Online Protection Act of 1998, was blocked almost immediately after it was passed, and also later struck down by the Supreme Court.
* In the UK, when banker Fred Goodwin [[CorruptCorporateExecutive helped further ruin an already-ruined economy and then awarded himself a huge pension]], the Government tried to find a way of calling him out on it but failed because everything he'd done was perfectly legal. This caused much public outrage, to the extent where some people apparently thought the Government should just [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments temporarily pass a law that being named Fred Goodwin was illegal]]. It was further conflicted by the fact that Parliament do have the powers to confiscate his pension, but doing so would either violate contract law, or be a passing bill of attainder, which, while actually legal in the UK (and was actually one of the reasons for UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution), is seen as immensely improper to do in any advanced democracy.
** In his book ''I'm a Stranger Here Myself'' (a.k.a. ''Notes from a Big Country'' in the UK), Creator/BillBryson talked about American politician Newt Gingrich [[DisproportionateRetribution calling for the ''death penalty'']] for [[FelonyMisdemeanor pot users,]] then followed it up with a proposal for a law making it a crime to be Newt Gingrich.

* After the US Supreme Court ruled that a vague California law against selling "violent" video games was unconstitutional, the usual suspects came out of the woodwork decrying the inevitable destruction of, yep, "[[ThinkOfTheChildren the children]]," despite the fact that the average gamer is about 25. The icing on the cake? Every one of them asked, rhetorically, if the audience would likewise be ok if violent and explicit movies could also be sold to children. Well, there is no law at any level of governance anywhere in the US preventing such a thing. Age restrictions are enforced solely by theaters and retailers. Considering nobody even knew selling an 'R' movie to a kid was legal, presumably the same people could be trusted not to sell 'M' games to kids.
** There are laws preventing the sale of sexually explicit content to children, but they are not (and can never be) tied to the MPAA rating-system. There are no such laws for violent content, in large part because it's harder to draw the line (with sexually explicit content, the rule is easily "don't show boobs or privates;" with violence...how do you even ''define'' that?).

** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in Australia, however, where films and game ratings are enforcable by law and so selling [=MA15+=] or R18+ rated products to children ''is'' illegal. It's also illegal to show R18+ films or games in a public place.

** This is a good time to point out that the United States laws on Freedom of Speech are some of the most liberal in the world and that language that would be classified as hate speech in many other Common Law countries is perfectly legal in the United States. A Supreme Court case overturned a ruling against WBC in an 8-1 decision took specific note that they did not condone the actions of WBC, but that constitutionally, they were in the right. United States Courts as a whole are loath to violate Freedom of Speech and the default setting on any Freedom of Speech case is that the speech in question is valid and the party trying to limit the speech must meet high burdens of proof that it was not. This has had the strange effect of making the United States home to the largest Post-WWII Nazi Party in the world (We're still talking in population percentages that are lower than 1%. It's not strong because it's widely supported, but because the Freedom Of Speech laws in the US are so open that it cannot be outlawed.). Some may say this is unintended, but most Americans counter that it is the intended consequence. The First Amendment wasn't written to protect agreeable speech, but disagreeable speech, after all. American's on a whole do not trust government, so they feel that it is better to let the fringe like the Nazi Party and WBC speak than to give the government power to limit speech it disagrees with.

* The Swiss Criminal Code prohibits fare evasion by using forged tickets, old tickets, wrong tickets, etc, but does not cover fare evasion by not having a ticket at all. So the Swiss Supreme Court ruled that using public transportation without a ticket at all was not a crime, because that specific case should have been such an obvious one to forbid when legislating fare evasion.

* In the UK, several high-profile celebrities have been dragged through the media for tax avoidance, basically using legal loopholes to pay less tax. The government have been madly trying to find something to pin on them, but have had to accept that it is all legal, while they try to plug the holes, instead they settled for decrying them as doing something "morally wrong".
** This becomes hilarious due to Parliament having recently been pulled up due to a scandal about the expenses they had been claiming.

* OlderThanSteam: In 1742, several homeowners in Cities of London and Westminster petitioned to criminalize the provision of false employment references, as many uses fake references to invoke TheButlerDidIt. This culumulated in the Servants’ Characters Act 1792 (Discussed in Page 248 of [[http://lawcommission.justice.gov.uk/docs/SLR_Bill2008_Notes.pdf this]]) which did exactly that. The law was repealed in 2008 after having unused for a very long time and can be covered by other laws.

* Played for laughs in the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' book ''Bluestar's Prophecy'', when Bluepaw suggests that there should be something in the warrior code allowing you to put thistles in your denmate's nest. Later, when Pinestar leaves ThunderClan, Bluefur notes that she wouldn't be surprised if there was a rule added to the warrior code stating that warriors should reject the soft life of a kittypet. This is almost the exact wording the newly-enacted law uses.