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7Live Action TV examples of LoopholeAbuse. British TV series ''Series/{{Taskmaster}}'' has so many examples it necessitated putting them [[LoopholeAbuse/{{Taskmaster}} on its own page!]]
8----
9* ''Series/TheAmazingRace'':
10** During the earlier seasons, it was common to see teams like Rob & Amber (Seasons 7 & 11) and Charla & Mirna (Seasons 5 & 11) convince locals to go along with them on legs, helping them navigate past the other teams. Luckily, this loophole was closed after All-Stars.
11** During the final leg, there usually is a large task wherein the racers must put the locations they visited in order of which they visited it. In Season 17, the winners Nat and Kat whipped out a notebook they filled out and breezed through the task. This actually was not against the rules at the time, but the next time a similar task appeared, there was a rule added specifically saying that you are not allowed to use your notes ''during'' the task. (There is no rule saying you can't take notes, just that you cannot use them during a task)
12** One team had nicked another team's cab in season 10, which was not against the rules.
13** At the beginning of season 14, the task was to transport cheese wheels down a ledge. However, the racers were not penalized for simply rolling the cheese down the hill or carrying it. (Especially since the equipment broke)
14* In ''Series/AmericanGladiators'', Human Cannonball had no requirement about how the contenders hit the Gladiators. This meant most contenders swung with their feet straight out, kicking the Gladiators off the pedestal. This was allowed until a memorable injury to Malibu, at which point the loophole was closed and the contenders had to tuck their legs in.
15* ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow'': Barney was in danger of being deemed physically unfit for duty for being underweight (an extended case of the hiccups had ruined an attempt to pack on a couple extra pounds). The new regulation said he had to meet the weight requirement wearing uniform, shoes, and ID tag and chain. It didn't say he couldn't hang the ID tag on a three foot long piece of towing chain.
16* ''Series/TheApprentice'': In one episode, Lord Sugar sends the contestants to Oxford and Cambridge to purchase some items, where a couple of instances of this occured:
17** One of the items is a pre-Second World War edition of ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'' (as in a copy of the book that had been printed before the Second World War). One of the teams found one, but not happy with the price, decided to pop into another shop to get a cheaper copy. They are handed a modern edition by the shopkeeper, who attempts to weasel with the question as to whether the book is a pre-war edition - while the book is a modern reprint, the ''text'' is from prior to the Second World War. However, while the contestant did buy the book, they did eventually purchase a pre-Second World War edition of ''Alice''.
18** Another of the items was a shield showing the 31 crests of Cambridge's colleges. However, as the list the contestants were given did not specify it was supposed to be of the 31 different colleges, one of them suggested getting a shield and duplicating the same crest 31 times! In the end, they did not go through with that idea.
19* In Season 4, episode 13 of ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', Oliver exploits something that happened at the end of a previous season that pretty much everyone in-show wanted to forget -- his marriage by League of Assassins law to Nyssa. Because of their marital status, he is able to take her place in a duel for control of the League with Malcolm, ensuring that Nyssa will win and that Malcolm won't die. It proves to be one of the most successful and manipulative things the usually very direct Oliver has done.
20** In season 7, after Oliver has been publicly exposed as the Green Arrow, he dresses in the suit (sans mask and hood) to stop an attack. A federal attorney is ready to go after him for breaking Star City's anti-vigilante laws. However, Dinah deputizes Oliver as a special agent for the police. She also points out that because Oliver wasn't wearing a mask and everyone knows who he is, they can't go after him as a "masked" vigilante.
21* ''Series/BabylonFive'':
22** In "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS02E03TheGeometryOfShadows The Geometry of Shadows]]", Ivanova becomes the Green Drazi leader by grabbing the former leader's ceremonial sash:
23--->'''Ivanova:''' You're saying just because I'm holding this right now, I'm Green leader? But I'm human!\
24'''Green Drazi:''' Rules of combat older than contact with other races. Did not mention aliens. ''[looks embarrassed]'' [[ObviousRulePatch Rules change...]] caught up in committee. Not come through yet.
25*** There was a FunnyBackgroundEvent CallBack to this in a later season episode in which the next Drazi "election" occurs as an unaddressed background event. At one point in the episode, Ivanova shows up to her duty station wearing the Green Leader sash.
26*** It is later revealed that they've been in contact with other races for ''centuries''.
27** Sinclair is a RulesLawyer to the hilt:
28*** In "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS01E12ByAnyMeansNecessary By Any Means Necessary]]", the Rush Act authorizes him to use any and all military assets to end a strike by the station's dockworkers -- the intended reading of this being breaking up the strike by military force. What he actually does is allocate funds earmarked for the military budget to pay for the safety upgrades which the workers are demanding. It's made very clear that he only gets away with it because the move proves so popular with the public that the politicians who gave the order can't punish him without potentially losing their seats.
29*** In the same episode in which he ends the strike, Sinclair also helps G'Kar exploit a loophole in a ''Narn religious ritual'' that the strike has interfered with by pointing out that even though the ''current'' ritual can't be completed on time, the timing (dependent upon a particular solar alignment on the Narn homeworld) is conveniently just right to participate in the same ritual using the same starlight from years earlier when the alignment occurred. He also uses the law against controlled substances on the station to force Londo to give up his G'Quan-Eth plant[[note]]required by the ritual and only allowed on the station for religious purposes, but used in combination with alcohol as a recreational drug by the Centauri[[/note]] to G'Kar, allowing G'Kar to complete said ritual.
30*** Sinclair is quite capable of finding loopholes in military and civilian law throughout Season 1 (and makes a lot of enemies as a result). This comes back to bite him in "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS01E16Eyes Eyes]]" when Colonel Ari ben Zayn (a corrupt [[TheInquisitorGeneral Inquisitor General]]) comes to investigate. Sinclair tries the usual Rule Fu; it seems to work at first, but eventually the colonel [[MyRuleFuIsStrongerThanYours turns the rules in his favor]], forcing Sinclair to change tactics.
31*** Sinclair does it again in the canon novel ''To Dream in the City of Sorrows'' when he becomes the Entil'Zha (leader) of the Rangers. Part of the ritual to become an Entil'Zha involves drinking something that is not harmful to Minbari, but potentially lethal to humans. Sinclair works out a compromise via ExactWords: the ritual says to "''taste'' of it", so he takes only a tiny sip of the drink (which is still enough to make him sick, but thankfully not lethal). [[spoiler:Since he, in his persona of Valen, ultimately founded the Rangers, he probably arranged for that specific phrasing in the description of the ritual just so he could invoke this.]]
32** Sheridan also uses it in "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS03E09PointOfNoReturn Point of No Return]]" when he is ordered to 'respect the chain of command' and subsequently disobeys Nightwatch (as they are a ''civilian'' organization, not part of the ''military'' chain of command) and imprisons its members for subverting command authority. It seems like mastery of loopholes is a prerequisite for [=EarthForce=] officers; the officer giving this order makes it clear with his facial expression that he is intentionally dropping a hint with the phrasing.
33** An episode of the spin-off ''Series/{{Crusade}}'' has Gideon receive orders to head for a particular part of space and "don't stop for anything or anyone". There is even a senator aboard who insists that Gideon follow the letter of the order (the order came through the proper military chain of command, though). When Lochley's Starfury is disabled, she sends out a distress call, with the ''Excalibur'' being the only ship close enough to help. The senator insists that Gideon leave the stranded fighter and proceed with his mission. Gideon instead performs an incredibly risky MegaMawManeuver by opening the hangar doors, slowing down the ship, and using the emergency arresting fields to bring the incoming fighter's speed to a resting stop relative to the ship. When the senator finds out what Gideon is doing, he acquiesces and tells Gideon to stop and perform the normal rescue. Gideon nonchalantly tells him that he intends to follow the orders to the letter (the senator can't order him or countermand an order directly). Of course, there is an issue what is considered "stopping" in space. After all, he could have stopped relative to the fighter but claim to have been still moving relative to some distant star.
34* In the final season of ''Series/{{Benson}}'', Gov. Gatling used a loop hole in the state constitution's term limit language to run for a third term, since it stated that only affiliated party members were barred. It didn't say anything about someone running as an independent.
35* In an episode of ''Series/{{Beetleborgs}}'', Les Fortune gets tired of Nukus ordering him around, so he steals the Astral Axe and heads out to the park. After summoning Boron, he decides to have some fun, and play a game of "Simon says" with the mecha, quickly explaining the rules (as in, "only do what I tell you if I say 'Simon says' first"). Eventually, Nukus and Horribelle notice the theft and go to find him; Les tells them off, then tells Boron to crush them. Boron doesn't obey, however; he forgot to say "Simon says" first! Nukus quickly grabs the axe back and Les runs for his life.
36* In ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', Leonard's then-girlfriend [[{{HelloAttorney}} Priya]] (who is also Raj's sister, [[{{MySisterIsOffLimits}} which causes other problems]]) exploited various loopholes in Sheldon's convoluted and (somewhat) draconian roommate agreement. She and Leonard [[{{BestServedCold}} gleefully]] [[{{BotheringByTheBook}} take advantage of this]] [[ForTheEvulz just so they can make Sheldon's life miserable]].
37** For example, Sheldon's agreement states that the shower can be occupied by only one person at a time, making Leonard and Priya showering together forbidden. However, it also stated that when Sheldon showered second, all reasonable adjustments must be made to ensure adequate hot water; thus, Priya argued that by sharing a shower they had ensured there would be enough hot water for Sheldon, superseding the occupancy limit.
38* The five-fingered plan in ''Series/BigBrother'' US. Nakomis and Marvin thought up a plan that would allow them to put Jase up on the block and evict him without even giving him a chance to fight back. There was no rule saying that they couldn't nominate two people whom they had no intention of evicting in the first place, and then picking people who would use the veto anyways, specifically excluding Jase (their intended target) and then nominating Jase without even giving him the chance to keep himself off the block. Later seasons had the vetos be a random draw (so one couldn't specifically deny anyone a chance to play for veto).
39** This loophole has become effectively enshrined in the rules of the game, and is referred to as "back-dooring" a contestant, though the change to the random Veto competition rules makes it more of a gamble.
40* In ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'', Cory and Shawn [[RiddleForTheAges somehow]] move Rachel's car into her dorm room as part of an EscalatingWar and Rachel tries to get them in trouble with Mr. Feeny but he refuses to punish them because there aren't any rules against parking a car in a dorm room.
41* ''Series/TheBradyBunch'':
42** In "The Liberation of Marcia Brady," Marcia joins Greg's Frontier Scout troop because there's no rule that says a girl can't be a Frontier Scout. Greg tries to retaliate by joining Marcia's Sunflower Girls Group, but he is prevented because in his case, there ''is'' a rule -- not against boys joining the group, but because there is an age limit which he is too old for. Instead, he gets younger brother Peter to join.
43** In "Greg Gets Grounded," Greg is forbidden to drive for a week as a punishment, but since his parents' ExactWords were that he couldn't drive "the car," he drives a friend's car instead of the family car. This leads to a RadishCure where Mike and Carol hold him to his own ExactWords until he learns his lesson.
44* The later series of ''Series/BritainsGotTalent'' introduced the "Golden Buzzer". Rather than rejecting an act, pressing the golden buzzer caused an act to be instantly sent to the live shows; it was usually used as an additional bonus for particularly good acts. However, when singer Christian Spridon performed, three of the judges pressed their buzzers to halt the act even though the audience were reacting positively. The remaining judge, David Walliams, encouraged him to continue while interacting with the crowd, only for Simon Cowell to reach over and press David's buzzer, shutting down the act. David, in response, reached over and hit the golden buzzer. Per the rules the Golden Buzzer sends the act straight into the live shows, with no mention of consideration for what else happened in their audition - so Walliams effectively ''reversed'' the other judges' decisions, and Spridon was sent straight to the live shows to the chagrin of Simon Cowell ("what the bloody hell did you do that for!?") and the other judges, even leaving Ant and Dec confused as to what had just happened. After this, Walliams became so infamous for using the golden buzzer to send rejected acts into the live shows that he was eventually banned from pushing it.
45* In an episode of ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'', Captain Holt describes the formation of an association for gay and lesbian African American police officers that he is the founder and president of. In flashback, we see him approach his superiors with his request for funding, only for the response to be howls of derisive, mocking laughter. In the present, Holt notes that since they apparently never actually got around to saying "no", he just took the money and started the association anyway.
46* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
47** Vampires [[MustBeInvited cannot enter building unless they are invited]]. Evil vampire Angelus manages to enter the local high school by pointing out that the sign on the school reads "Formatia trans sicere educatorum", which translates to "Enter all ye who seek knowledge". As Angelus tells a character who asks how he got in: "What can I say? I'm a knowledge seeker." This was either just a joke or a case of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, since it's later explained that vampires don't need an invitation to enter a public place.
48** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E14Innocence Innocence]]", the Scooby gang faces the Judge, a demon who cannot be harmed by "any weapon forged". As the Judge was summoned in the 14th century, they steal a rocket launcher from the Army and blow him up.
49* ''Series/TheCatherineTateShow'': 32-year-old Bunty insists on being allowed to perform in a children's majorette team because ''technically'' there's no age limit. The club's manager points out that they'd been able to get by on common sense until she came along.
50* ''Series/{{Chopped}}'' had a round in which one of the required ingredients was Pistachios. However, these were ''shelled'' pistachios - which meant that in order to get enough to taste the flavour and thus "Transform" them, you'd have to waste a lot of time shelling them. AintNoRule saying you can't just shell one or two, then run over to the pantry and use the pistachios that are already there, thus fulfilling the requirement of having pistachios in your dish ''and'' the pistachios from the basket.
51* ''Series/TheColbertReport'': In a [[http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/181202/november-15-2005/formidable-opponent---torture segment of]] ''Formidable Opponent'' where Stephen debates himself one of the Stephens argue that torture is constitutional. The constitution might forbid ''cruel and unusual punishment'' but that's not a problem according to Stephen if torture is used so often it is no longer unusual.
52* In an episode of ''Series/TheCosbyShow'', while Claire was appearing on a local panel show, Cliff watched her in the green room forbidden by her to eat any available donuts. The janitor she asked to supervise him admitted that his own wife didn't let him eat donuts either. But he still helped himself to the pastry table:
53-->'''Janitor:''' (holding up a donut) This is a donut.\
54'''Cliff:''' Yes, (holding up a different type of donut) and ''this'' is a donut.\
55'''Janitor:''' (holding up an ''eclair'') This is not a donut.
56* An episode of ''Series/CriminalMinds'' has a mother abandon her teenage son ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe-haven_law as allowed by Safe Haven Laws]] as he was still legally considered a child) which is [[TruthInTelevision something that happened a few times in Real Life]] before an ObviousRulePatch was created, which only allowed parents to drop off their infant children. The son being a horrifying PsychoKnifeNut sociopath with a FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon, he thus hitch-hiked (and serial-killed) his way back home.
57* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': In the season 3 finale, the "dying declaration" exemption to the hearsay rule when regarding video confessions is how Ray Nadeem's last confession before his death ends up bringing down Wilson Fisk.
58* This was the premise of ''Dark Justice.'' Nicholas Marshall never stopped believing in "the system," no matter how many technicalities were invoked by the defense. But when his wife and daughter died from a car bomb and the perpetrators got off, he recruited some minor offenders to assist him in dealing with those he was forced to release under such conditions.
59* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'': [[Characters/DexterDexterMorgan Dexter Morgan]] realizes that he cannot kill Doakes no matter how much he tries to justify it due to his code. Framing Doakes on the other hand is perfectly acceptable to him. [[spoiler:This applies even after Doakes dies. Despite the fact that being locked in a cage led to his death in the first place, Dexter feels no remorse since he didn't directly kill him.]]
60* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
61** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E3TheDeadlyAssassin The Deadly Assassin]]": The Doctor is accused of killing the Lord President of Gallifrey, the punishment for which is execution. However, the president had not named a successor before he was killed so an election must be held. So to put off his execution long enough to figure out what's really going on, the Doctor invokes some obscure law that lets him ''submit himself as a candidate'' so the Time Lords can't execute him until after the election.
62** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E1SmithAndJones Smith and Jones]]": The Judoon, SpacePolice for hire, have no jurisdiction over the Earth. So when they're hunting a fugitive who's hidden in a hospital on the planet, they simply transport the building to the Moon.
63** "[[Recap/DoctorWho2007CSVoyageOfTheDamned Voyage of the Damned]]": When cornered by the Hosts, the Tenth Doctor uses the robotic servants' exact orders to save himself. Confirming that they were ordered to kill the crew and passengers, he argues that he should be spared because he is a stowaway, and does not fall under either category.
64* ''Series/{{Dracula|2020}}'' (2020):
65** If Dracula isn't invited into a building, he can't attack the inhabitants directly, but the rule doesn't prevent him from [[spoiler:letting a pack of mind-controlled wolves rip everyone inside to shreds, or command one of his undead pawns to let him in]].
66** In episode 3, Renfield uses the law to get Dracula released from the Harker Foundation, stating all Dracula's paperwork is in order due to him making the proper arrangements back in 1897. And while he admits that he is unnerved by the fact that Dracula is still alive and young after 123 years, he points out there is no law that forbids anyone from living that long.
67* In TheTeaser of the ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'' episode "Dance Contest", Drake and Josh have a contest to see who can drink more cups of coffee, and they make it up to 26 cups. Josh [[FreakOut freaks out]] from all the caffeine, but Drake is completely fine because the rules never stated they couldn't drink decaf.
68* ''Series/TheDrewCareyShow'' had an episode where the four protagonists were arrested and forced by the court to stay away from each other starting from when they left the courthouse. [[TheDitz Oswald]] then decided that they should just stay in the courthouse. This trope was then [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] when the judge changed their wording to "immediately''.
69* Anytime Series/DrQuinnMedicineWoman wanted to see an important telegraph, Horace, the local operator, would refuse to show her, having taken an oath to keep all communications private. He would however, conveniently go out for a walk, knowing full well that she was going to look at the notepad that he's written the message on.
70* Lampshaded in the ESPN Sports Science episode about hockey goalies: while there Ain't No Rule about what size the goalie can be, even the fattest man in the world wouldn't be able to take up enough space to block the entire goal, and average hockey players can get pucks into the spaces that he leaves open. There is actually a rule that would prevent such a player from being a goalie: the rule about [[http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=26285 how large a jersey can be]] (and that you must wear one).
71* In ''Series/{{Elementary}}'', Sherlock and Joan routinely arrive somewhere, knock on the door, get no response, and Sherlock comes up with some loophole reason why breaking in without a warrant ''wasn't'' breaking and entering. Claiming to have heard a child in distress is a favorite. This move comes to bite him in the ass in one episode, in which he has to defend in court his involvement in the events that got Detective Bell shot, and the judge sees Sherlock's BlatantLies for what they are and nearly gets him arrested for perjury right then and there (and even then he recommends the NYPD to fire him as a consultant ''immediately'').
72* An interesting example of this features in ''Series/EmeraldCity'' concerning the circumstances that led to the death of Mistress East. Since Mistress East was killed when Dorothy tricked her into shooting herself in the head, the Wizard assumed that this meant that guns could be used to kill the witches, but [[spoiler:it is subsequently confirmed that only witches can kill witches; the gun only proved fatal because Mistress East pulled the trigger and essentially killed ''herself'']].
73* In ''Series/FakingIt'', after Principal Turner forces the school to go to prom and bring dates (this is the type of school that [[YourNormalIsOurTaboo loathes traditional school events]]), the students do several things to try and get under his nose: Liam decides to bring a skeleton as a date; Shane and Karma both ask a bisexual student to go on a "thruple" date to prom (though this was more motivated by both of them actually wanting to hook up with him); and someone sends a pig and a ficus plant to the prom...and they get elected homecoming king and queen.
74* It's common on ''Series/FamilyLaw'' for the firm to pull some nice tricks to win a case.
75** Dani is surprised the firm's cleaning lady is secretly worth half a million dollars by taking care of the accounts for some rich people. The bank breaks it to the woman she's been involved in a complex scam and, despite how she knew nothing of it, demands the return of the money she's spent on her children's education and home. When the judge rules for the bank, the woman throws a tantrum in court, asking if they want the loose change in her purse too with the judge saying "you can keep what's in your purse" and brushing off the missing $40,000 as lost in the scam. Meeting Dani later, the woman reveals that she invested that $40,000 in rare coins...the very coins in her purse the judge ruled belong solely to her. Dani has to laugh at the brilliant fast one the woman pulled on the bank.
76* On ''Series/FamilyMatters'', Steve Urkel challenges Laura's [[GirlOfTheWeek Guy of the Week]] to a contest to see who can climb to the top of a rope faster. The loser has to stay away from Laura forever. Steve is absolutely terrible at rope climbing, but he wins because there Ain't No Rule that says he can't use a rocket pack to fly to the top instead of climbing in the usual way. This is quite ridiculous as a way of winning a rope-climbing contest, because, well, it's not rope climbing! The guy in question never appears again, but a generous interpretation would claim that he just faded into the background like every other girl/guy of the week, and didn't stay away because he actually honored Steve Urkel's beating him in the contest. On the other hand, as a result of the jetpack, Urkel ended up in a ''Series/StepByStep'' CrossOver, a fate far worse than being dumped.
77* ''Series/FantasyIsland'':
78** A classic episode has a woman trying to get out of a DealWithTheDevil to save her husband's life. Roarke gets the Devil to agree to a new deal to gain the souls of the woman, her husband, and himself, specifying that by the Devil's rules, he can only take three souls, no more or less. As soon as the agreement is made, Roarke asks how the Devil is going to claim three souls... without also taking the soul of the woman's unborn child. To his outrage, the Devil realizes even he dare not violate this deal and is thus forced to forfeit claim to the woman and husband.
79** In a later episode, the Devil returns to trick Julie into signing her soul to him. Roarke counters by revealing Julie sold half of her soul over to him and suggests they "share custody." The Devil gets Roarke to agree to give his soul over to save Julie and gloats on his victory. At which point, Julie reveals that Roarke sold half of ''his'' soul to ''her''. Too late, the Devil realizes that the time limit to claim either soul has passed to invalidate all deals.
80* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': When the resident minister shows up for a fight toting a rifle, he states that while the [[Literature/TheBible Good Book]] has some quite specific things to say [[ThouShaltNotKill about killing]], [[TechnicalPacifist it's a mite fuzzier]] [[{{Kneecapping}} on the subject of kneecaps.]]
81* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' and Niles sometimes find themselves trapped by their professional codes of ethics, and bend over backwards to find ways around them.
82** In one episode, they discover that Roz's newest boyfriend is one of Niles's patients, a compulsive womanizer who loves 'em and leaves 'em, and will surely break Roz's heart; but they can't tell her, as that would violate doctor-patient confidentiality. They spend the entire episode looking for a way out, and finally find it:
83--->'''Niles:''' It would be so much easier if Roz were mentally incompetent.\
84'''Frasier:''' Go on...\
85'''Niles:''' Well, then there'd be some justification for protecting her. Is she irrational?\
86'''Frasier:''' She did attack a vending machine once, when a Twinkie came out of the Oreo chute.\
87'''Niles:''' Borderline, borderline. Does she ever act delusional?\
88'''Frasier:''' Well, she often claims that she is responsible for the success of our show.\
89'''Niles:''' Building, building. Does she display below-average intelligence?\
90'''Frasier:''' She once ordered a bottle of white Zinfandel!\
91'''Niles:''' Jackpot! Go to her, she's a threat to herself!\
92'''Frasier:''' It's amazing they even let the woman drive!
93** In other episode, Frasier desperately wants to talk about something a patient told him, but is bound by confidentiality.
94--->'''Niles:''' Nothing is more sacrosanct than professional ethics. Fortunately, I know a trick to get around them. For the next few minutes, I'll be your psychiatrist. Then you can spill your guts with impunity. \
95'''Frasier:''' It's borderline, but I'm desperate.
96** Martin reveals to Niles that after he got shot in the hip he made a deal with God that if he lived he'd never drink another bottle of Ballantine's beer.
97--->'''Niles:''' You still drink Ballantine's.\
98'''Martin:''' [[ExactWords Not in]] ''[[ExactWords bottles]]'', baby.
99* On ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'', the dress code at the prep school Will and Carlton attend says that students must wear the school blazer and a tie tied in a double Windsor knot. However, the rule does not state that the tie cannot be worn on one's head. It also says nothing about wearing the blazer inside out. Will does both.
100* ''[[Franchise/ASongOfIceAndFire Game of Thrones]]'' universe:
101** ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
102*** An extremely subtle example, in which Arya Stark forces Jaqen H'ghar to help her escape Harrenhal by naming him as his own next target. Jaqen pleads with her to retract his name[[note]]he is obliged by debt of honour to kill whoever she names[[/note]], but she will not relent so he is forced to help her[[note]]having previously claimed to have offered her three kills, not help, and helping her escape would require more even more kills[[/note]]. Shortly after her escape however, he reappears in front of her, changes his face, and declares that [[ThatManIsDead Jaqen H'ghar is dead]]. In other words, he deliberately allowed her to blackmail him, instead of just rules-lawyering his way out -- presumably because he genuinely likes her and wants to see her cleverness rewarded.
103*** Earlier in the series, Ser Loras Tyrell cheats in a tournament because there ain't no rule that says you can't enter a mare in heat into a joust. Ser Gregor Clegane's stallion goes bananas and bucks him, costing him the win. Nearly backfires when the enraged Gregor beheads his own horse and nearly murders Loras. Loras dodges getting called on it officially by ceding the final victory to the Hound, who had rescued him.
104*** When men join the Night's Watch, they swear an oath of service for the rest of their lives ("''[My watch] shall not end until my death''"), and anyone who leaves is executed as a deserter. [[spoiler:When Jon Snow is murdered by mutineers and then restored to life by the witch Melisandre, the first thing he does after executing the traitors is to quit.]]
105---->'''[[spoiler:Jon Snow]]:''' [[spoiler:I pledged my life to the Night's Watch. I gave my life.]]
106*** Samwell also justifies brothers of the Night's Watch having sex as their oath doesn't specifically forbid it, only taking a wife and fathering children.
107*** This is practically Roose Bolton's specialty. When Bolton suggests flaying the prisoners for information, Robb tells him that Ned outlawed flaying in the North. Bolton counters that they're not in the North. When Walder Frey proposed a marriage deal to him, Frey offered to pay Bolton the girl's weight in silver as a dowry, and so Bolton picked the fattest Frey granddaughter he could find.
108*** During the reign of Aerys Targaryen, Lord Rickard Stark came before him demanding a TrialByCombat for the freedom of his son and daughter. Being [[TheCaligula The Mad King]] and all, Aerys chose ''fire'' as his champion for the duel. Roasting Rickard alive in his armor.
109** ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'': Technically, every lord who sides with the Green faction supporting Aegon II as king [[TheOathBreaker broke the oath]] they made to recognize Rhaenyra Targaryen as heir to the throne in the first episode of Season 1. Several of them resort to loophole abuse since it was ''their predecessor'' who made that oath years ago and not they themselves, although oaths of that nature are meant to be binding for the whole house.
110* The South Korean game show ''The Genius'' frequently leaves intentional loopholes for the contestants to find and exploit:
111** In general, for an untied win in a Main Match, the winner gets two Tokens of Life (immunity tokens) and has to immediately give one to another player. Ain't no rule against intentionally throwing the match to help another player win in exchange for that second token.
112** Ain't no rule against bribing another contestant outright.
113** Ain't no rule against counting cards. This one comes up with nearly every card game.
114** In the deck-building game Open Pass, the card backs were slightly asymmetrical. Ain't no rule against selectively rotating some of your cards 180 degrees to "mark" them. The show even went out of its way to hold rehearsal games in which players (and viewers) could see that the dealer's shuffling technique wouldn't rotate any cards.
115** One game invited a panel of 10 guests for the contestants to interview, after which they would be challenged to give statements that were true for exactly 5 of them. Ain't no rule against giving 5 of them information to parrot back to you.
116** Ain't no rule stating "5 consecutive numbers in order" had to be in ''ascending'' order.
117** Ain't no rule against taking apart the special dice to reassemble them in another configuration, even a configuration where all 6 sides showed the same number.
118** Even when there is a rule that you can't directly tell some information to another contestant, there usually still ain't no rule against coming up with some nonverbal signaling method. (On the occasions that the game designers actually don't want any information sharing, they'll sequester the contestants in separate rooms.)
119* In the original run of Australian ''Gladiators'', one female contestant with a gymnastics background grabbed on to one ring in 'Hang Tough', and went upside down, wrapping her legs around the chain. The gladiator was unable to remove her. While she was given the five points for staying on for the whole time, this tactic was banned from then on, due to the risk of spinal injury it poses to the contestant.
120* ''Series/GentlemanJack'': Anne points out that, while lesbian relationships are stigmatized and considered sinful, they are not ''illegal'' -- the laws forbidding homosexuality are written in a way that only applies to men. That said, Anne outright admits that even if having a relationship with another woman ''was'' a crime, it wouldn't stop her. (Believe it or not, [[ShownTheirWork this really was true]] in a lot of places, partially because, at the time, sex was thought of something done ''to'' women by men, rather than something women sought out or wanted for themselves. After all, a ProperLady would only have sex [[LieBackAndThinkOfEngland to procreate or please her husband]], riiiiiiiiiight...?)
121* Apparently, in ''Series/{{Glee}}'' there Ain't No Rule against a wheelchair user being bowled down the field like a human cannonball in football. This may well not actually be true in RealLife.
122* In Season 2 of ''The Great Food Truck Race'', the teams were told to take some meat from a certain storage and make an original sausage to be judged. Whoever won would be given something to help out in their actual challenge. Korilla BBQ figured they had no chance against the other teams and considering they only had a hundred dollars to start their challenge, they opted to simply take ingredients from the storage to be used in the actual challenge and didn't bother making a sausage. The judge admitted that this was smart.
123** Korilla BBQ seems to be fond of this. When the contestants were given 5 dollars each and told that they could spend no more to make a single dish to be judged, Korilla BBQ raided the condiment stand.
124* A contestant on ''Series/GoldenBalls'' managed to do this. Since the final round is the PrisonersDilemma he convinced his opponent to go along with him... by announcing his intent to ''Steal'' rather than Share and promised to split half the money with him after the show if he chose to let him take the money, [[SadisticChoice or they'd both go home broke]]. The host noted that it was a perfectly valid tactic, but advised against it since the Stealer had no legal obligation to follow through. [[spoiler: It was BriarPatching - the Stealer was lying and chose Share to trick the other person into sharing.]]
125* ''Series/TheGoodFight'':
126** Maia Rindell is being interrogated by the FBI over knowing about her father's massive Ponzi scheme. The agent threatens her by showing how Maia signed a document at her 18th birthday party to take control of the fund which means she can be legally be found as guilty as her father. But Maia smirks that she may have signed the documents then but her actual birthday wasn't for another four days. Thus, she was only 17 which means legally, it doesn't count and she's not culpable.
127** Adrian takes part in a committee to come up with a Chicago city law on how to cut down on gun violence. He figures it'll be simple to bring in some new gun control laws. Thanks to how one of other committee members is an NRA operative and three are basically morons (one actually claiming "more people die from bees than gun violence"), the whole thing becomes a proposal for an act to pay to train lawyers to always be armed and able to defend themselves. Adrian says he'll write up the actual proposal, which surprises colleague Julius. Adrian points out that none of the others bothered to take any official notes or minutes on the meeting and thus can't prove what was actually discussed and won't even bother reading the proposal before it's sent in...meaning Adrian can write it to be anything he wants.
128** Diane, Adrian and Liz confidently go to Gavin, saying they're ready to buy out their shares of the firm from STR Laurie, stating they have the $20 million needed a per the agreement. Gavin responds that they actually need $80 million because, according to the bylaws, that agreement held only if the team generated more revenue after the merger. Too late, Diane realizes that's why Gavin has been letting them do so much pro bono work, to keep their billable hours low and ensure they can't afford to buy out STR Laurie.
129* In ''Series/HaltAndCatchFire'', Gordon tells Joe that IBM copyrighted the source code to the [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer IBM PC's ROM BIOS]]; however, Gordon then tells Joe that reverse engineering can be used to get around the copyright and recreate the assembly language code of the BIOS. [[spoiler:The duo might have gotten off scot free for copying the BIOS had Joe not deliberately told IBM about the project to force Cardiff Electric into the PC business]].
130* Producers and writers of ''Series/HappyDays'' were initially instructed by an ABC network exec, that Fonzie could not wear a leather jacket as it was associated with criminal groups. Garry Marshall insisted that for a motorcyclist like The Fonz, leather was a legitimate piece of safety equipment. The network relented and allowed that Fonzie could wear leather - but only when he was on or next to his motorcycle. Given that loophole, writers gave Fonz a habit of riding his motorcycle into Arnold's Diner and the Cunningham's living room while wearing the jacket. At home, his bike was always in the apartment in need of a tune up, and Fonz in the jacket. Soon the network relented and the jacket became such a trademark of the Fonz that he even improbably wore it while [[JumpingTheShark water skiing]], and the jacket was eventually enshrined at the Smithsonian.
131** Also subverted within one episode when Richie, Leather Tuscadero, and Mr & Mrs C come in from playing basketball (apparently the girls won). Mr C asks Richie "where in the rule book does it say you can't dribble with two hands?" "Page One," he exclaims.
132* ''Series/HenryDanger'': In "Dodging Danger", Henry accidentally makes Piper fly away when he bounces on his trampoline too hard during the Dodge-a-Leen tournament, but the referee does not call her out, since she was never hit by a ball when she flew away. This allows her to throw a ball at Ray to help Jasper's team win.
133-->'''Referee:''' The girl was never hit by a ball. I did NOT call her out, so... YOU LOST!
134* In the third ''Series/HoratioHornblower'' series, by-the-book Bush does this a couple of times. When Horatio goes spying ashore, he tells Bush to take ''Hotspur'' home if he's not back after a certain time. Bush ''does'' retreat once a French frigate shows up, but by that time Horatio's made good his escape; Bush claims that he thought the sandglasses were running too fast. Later, the flagship signals a retreat and Bush (again in command because Horatio is salvaging a pear-shaped operation) orders the inept Midshipman Hammond to double-check the signal using the book because he thinks that the shore battery's sudden quiet is a result of Horatio's party and not a convenient lull. The boy has it right for once, but it gives time for Horatio to succeed, resulting in a change in orders.
135* ''Series/HorribleHistories'' had a sketch where a man comes to see Queen Elizabeth I in her throne room, only to get into trouble over his clothing. First he ends up in trouble for wearing a cloak (they are banned in the Queen's throne room so that the guards can grab their swords quicker). Secondly, he gets in trouble for not wearing a wool hat on a Sunday (a demand of the Queen to support the wool trade). He then shows up wearing a wool hat and wearing no other clothes, for which the Queen does not have a law against.
136* On ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' Barney is at a casino and tries to ride off on a motorcycle that was the jackpot prize for a slot machine he hadn't won. Casino security stops him, but they find they can't punish him because there isn't a rule saying you can't ride a motorcycle on the casino floor. Barney gets off scot-free, and from that day forward the casino has a "No motorcycles on the casino floor" sign prominently displayed. Ted later tells his children that there's a lot of pride in doing something so uniquely stupid that you force the creation of an entirely new rule.
137* On ''Series/ICarly'', from the episode [=iCook=]: There's no rule that specifically states that a full-grown adult can't wrestle in a community wrestling league. The pamphlet only ''recommended'' the activity to boys 6-10.
138** This also doesn't stop Sam from challenging the {{Jerkass}} doing so and beating him.
139** Another incident has [[WalkingShirtlessScene Gibby]] show there wasn't any rule requiring him to wear a shirt at school. Funnily enough, they do have one against wearing turtleneck sweaters.
140** Having gone to law school (for three days), Spencer is an expert at finding loopholes:
141*** "[=iPromote=] Techfoots" (formerly called "[=iGot=] A Sponsor"): When the gang is forced to talk about a terrible (and dangerous) line of shoes in a positive way which is enraging their fanbase, Spencer finds a loophole, they have to be talking about them in a positive way, doesn't say they can't [[DamnedByFaintPraise reveal the faults of the shoe so long as they do it in a 'positive way']].
142*** "[=iGive=] Away A Car": After [[SitcomArchNemesis Nevel]] trapped iCarly in being forced to get him a new car they couldn't afford, the gang decides to give him a cheap used car on the basis that it would be new for him. It's subverted when a rep from the FCC informs them they have a specific definition of a new car meant to prevent people from doing just that. Luckily, Spencer finds a loophole in the FCC's definition of a new car as a 'unique vehicle that has never been state registered and can go up to 25 miles per hour under its own power'. He modifies the replica star cruiser he got off the Internet to be able to move under its own power. Because it's unique (one-of-a-kind), has never been state registered, and can go up to 25 miles an hour (proven when Nevel tries to drive it and destroys a flower shop), it technically counts as a new car.
143*** "[=iOwe=] You": When Sam gets them in legal trouble for soliciting money from children online, Spencer discovers they can legally keep the money if they give a product or service in return, and he just so happens to be selling fudgeballs for the Sunshine Girls.
144* ''Series/ImpracticalJokers'':
145** The challenge for the Jokers was to shop out of other people's cart at the grocery story. Nowhere did it say you had to actually confront the person. Q did it by simply taking the cart and ignoring the shopper's calls as he walked away.
146** Joe uses this in a contest where one joker has to find a single item the other placed in someone else's cart. Joe waited until the customer wasn't looking...then grabbed a handful of stuff. [[EpicFail None of them were right.]]
147** In one episode, the guys are posing as waiters and must put as many scoops of mashed potatoes as they can onto customer's plates without being told to stop. Q upended the entire bowl onto a customer's plate... [[HoistByHisOwnPetard only for the other guys to throw this right back at him]] by stating that this counted as ''one'' scoop.
148* ''Series/InTheDark'': It looks as if [[spoiler: Dean]] is finished after Murphy records a confession on her phone. But [[spoiler: in Illinois, a recording without two party consent is not admissible in court. Dean is able to use this to convince his captain that he can stay undercover inside Nia's operation to atone for his actions, meaning, to Murphy's shock, Dean is never even arrested for Tyson's murder.]]
149* ''Series/{{JAG}}'':
150** In "Ares", Harm is told not to go to the bridge on board the destroyer because the captain doesn’t want any JAG lawyers there during an exercise. However he goes there pretending that the message was ambiguous.
151** In "True Callings", when Harm realizes he is better as a lawyer, he saved a sailor from the brig by pointing out the prosecuting attorney filed the wrong UCMJ charges, such as ''False Imprisonment'', which is applicable only to law enforcement officers and the like instead of the proper charge of ''Kidnapping'', and pointed out how the other charge actually invalidates the prosecution's main witness against the sailor by another technicality.
152** In "Friendly Fire" Harm is selected to be a Judge Pro Tem over a case which involves a US aviator firing upon an British encampment. While reviewing the notes and evidence with Petty Officer Coates, who is his court clerk, Harm realizes a key piece of evidence is being overlooked by both sides. Reading the rules again for any guidance, Coates and he comes upon the loophole: [[spoiler:He is forbidden from giving information that would be advantageous to one side. Noting strictly forbids him from giving information to the side it would disadvantage. So, he briefly makes mention of the report to the Prosecution, who review it, come to realize the same facts he did, and dutifully inform the Defense of the same evidence, and thus saves the aviator from being sent to prison as what he thought was a second round of fire was the British generator sparking and seeming to be an attack]].
153* On ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'':
154** The rules only say that you have to answer in the form of a question; there is nothing saying that it has to be a "what is" or "who is", so things like "Is that an astrolabe?" or "¿Qué es nada?" are perfectly valid. Also, if the correct response is a question already (e.g. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"), then nothing else needs to be added.
155** Originally, contestants who were champions five days in a row retired undefeated. However, there was no rule saying they couldn't wager for the tie on their fifth game to allow a challenger to also receive winnings. At least one player did so. (Since 2003, there is no longer a cap; you stay on as long as you keep winning.)
156** A very common loophole abuse on the show is to pick clues from random spots on the board, instead of top-to-bottom. This is known as the "Forrest Bounce" by the fandom, and was notoriously employed by champion Arthur Chu.
157** If a contestant gives an incorrect response, but corrects themself before the judges or Creator/AlexTrebek make a ruling, then the correct response is accepted.
158** One episode had a contestant attempt to respond to Final Jeopardy! with the correct response "What is oxygen?", but only got as far as writing "What is O?" before time ran out. The judges decided to accept the answer since "O" is the symbol for oxygen on the periodic table.
159* There are multiple ways to circumvent Kilgrave's orders in ''Series/JessicaJones2015''.
160** Tricking a victim into thinking they carried out his orders correctly. Jessica tricked Simpson into thinking he'd followed Kilgrave's order - walk off a roof - by knocking him out, carrying him down to the pavement and throwing them both in a pile of trashbags. When he woke up, she told him that he'd jumped, but she'd caught him.
161** Using ExactWords to convince a victim they have done everything Kilgrave asked. When he tells [[spoiler:Trish]] to "put a bullet in [her] head", she finds her gun is out of bullets and tries pushing a bullet through her skull with her bare hands. Jessica stuffs it in her mouth, meaning she has a bullet in her head, thus the order has technically been carried out.
162** Making it physically impossible to carry out the order. When Kilgrave orders [[spoiler: his father]] to cut out his own heart, Jessica and Trish tape his hands behind his back until twelve hours pass and Kilgrave's control fades.
163* In the ''Series/{{Jessie}}'' episode "The Rosses Get Real", a mean TV show producer named Corrine Baxter hires the Ross family for her RealityShow and [[ManipulativeEditing edits the interviews out of context to make them fight each other]] and also uses embarrassing footage of them (such as Luke tripping on a vacuum whilst break dancing, or Jessie in her pajamas and a facial mask scratching her butt in the morning). The Rosses find out about her deception and try to quit, but Corrine forbids them since she has them under contract and threatens to sue them for everything they have. So instead, the Rosses act nice so that she won't have anything mean to broadcast about them and [[EngineeredPublicConfession also expose her ranting about her bosses on camera]] leading to Corrine firing them.
164* ''Series/KamenRider555'': The Smart Brain gears are designed so that only someone with the DNA of an [[MonsterOfTheWeek Orphnoch]] can use them without dying horribly. So Kusaka gets around this by injecting himself with Orphenoch DNA, which the Kaixa Gear is able to safely burn off [[spoiler:for a while]].
165* ''Series/KickinIt'': The Karate King Dojo offered free wall clocks to people who called within the next 30 minutes. Those who ordered the free clocks had to pay 99 dollars for wrapping and delivery.
166* ''Series/LastWeekTonightWithJohnOliver'':
167** When discussing the 2015 Canadian election, John brings up how awful Stephen Harper apparently is as Prime Minister, but also that Canadian law won't let him, as a non-Canadian citizen, to advise people not to vote for him. So he brings in an actual Canadian, Mike Myers, to do it for him.
168** In his story about the 2018 Italian election, John concludes that there are no good candidates to choose from. But, after discussing things with Italian legal experts, he finds that there's no law directly forbidding non-Italian citizens from being Prime Minister, so he throws his own hat in the ring.
169* An episode of ''Series/LasVegas'' has a girl win a huge prize on a slot machine that she pulled at exactly midnight on her 21st birthday, or so she thought. The Montecito's clock (which they have to follow) said that she pulled it a few seconds before midnight, so she was technically underage when she won the prize. Realizing this was unfair and could damage the casino's reputation, they have the girl star in a commercial for the Montecito, and then ''paid'' her the exact amount of the prize.
170* In ''Series/TheLateShowWithStephenColbert'', Colbert brought back his same-named character from ''Series/TheColbertReport'' for a cameo. Viacom lawyers then showed up and barred ''The Late Show'' from using what they said was their "intellectual property". Stephen was a little confused as to how someone with his own name and face isn't owned by him, but then neatly sidestepped the lawyers by "retiring" the old Stephen Colbert character and introducing his "identical twin cousin" also named Stephen Colbert, who has the same exact personality as the old Stephen Colbert and bringing back "The Word" segment for ''The Late Show'' (retitled as "The Werd"). The fans were ecstatic.
171* ''Series/LawAndOrder'':
172** A fairly common situation is that there is evidence against the defendant which can't be used against him[=/=]her due to having been received by violation of his[=/=]her rights. However, this restriction only applies to using it against those individuals whose rights were violated; one solution used often is to threaten an accomplice with this evidence, there by getting the accomplice to testify against the defendant.
173** The episode, "Guardian," the detectives suspect a rich financial adviser is involved in the death of a high-class junkie, but they don't have enough for a search warrant, unless they can arrest him in his car. So they wait for hours to catch the suspect in his car so they can impound and search it. Unfortunately, [[SubvertedTrope the judge is not impressed]] with Jack [=McCoy=]'s argument that a suspect does not have a right to a speedy arrest and declares the police's manoeuvring for a convenient arrest an abuse of due process and declares the evidence found from that stunt inadmissible, which nearly kills the case itself.
174** In the episode "Red Ball", a five-year-old girl is abducted, and when her abductor is arrested he refuses to divulge her location to the police or DA's office unless they agree to a deal that would see him walk free without jail time. Eventually, and after much reluctance, they agree to the deal and the girl is recovered. The ''judge'', however, does ''not'' agree to the deal and refuses to uphold it, so the case is taken to trial and the man is presumably convicted.
175* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'':
176** The detectives once raided a place selling mail-order "used Homecoming Queen undergarments". The Homecoming Queens in question were senior citizens, and making a ''bundle''. They didn't say that the undergarments belonged to young girls, after all.
177** In "Svengali", ADA Novak arranges for an AttentionWhore serial killer to provide testimony against another defendant in exchange for -- at the serial killer's request -- being transferred to serve out his time in a cushy federal prison. Novak agrees, and as soon as the trial is over, smugly informs him just ''how'' she intends to uphold her end of the deal:
178--->'''Novak:''' You're gonna love Florence Super Max. 23-hour lockdown, no visitors, no mail, no phone calls. No human contact for the rest of your life.
179** ADA Cabot once succeeded in getting illegally obtained evidence admitted to secure a conviction. The evidence in question came from an illegal search of the original victim's home, and Cabot successfully argued that while the civil liberties of the victim's mother were violated, ''the suspect's'' were not, and that he had no standing to contest a violation of someone else's rights. The judge is reluctantly forced to let the evidence in, but [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome she reports Cabot to the disciplinary committee and makes it very clear that she won't forget the violation when Cabot presents in her courtroom in the future.]]
180** In "Bang", the main suspect is a man poking holes in condoms to get women pregnant. The detectives spend most of the episode fuming because they can't find a single law that the man actually broke.[[note]]By today's laws, the man's actions could be recognized as a form of rape, since he intentionally changed the parameters of the situation from what the women consented to (sex with a condom), but those laws were still years away at the time the episode is set.[[/note]]
181** In "Imposter", a man pretends to be in charge of admissions at a university to take advantage of women willing to do anything to get their children into the university. Barba explains to Benson that there's no law against it, then turns around and indicts the man for rape anyway, resulting in a major WhatTheHellHero from the judge.
182* In ''Series/ALeagueOfTheirOwn2022'', [[spoiler:Jo hits the game-winning home run but twists her ankle and can't round the bases. The umpire rules that she must make it to home plate without assistance from her team, so the ''opposing'' team helps her make it to home plate and win the game.]]
183* The ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' episode "The Snow Job" uses this nicely in two ways, one dark, the other lighter.
184** The bad guys are a family of corrupt contractors who specialize in getting clients to sign complex contracts and then failing to do the work but putting a lien on the property. When the customers can't pay up, they end up losing the house in foreclosure with said contractors buying it up.
185** The team pull off a great con that not only lands the father of the pack in jail but also gives them controlling stock interest in the company. Nate then calls up the elder son and smugly points out how they listed their family mansion as a company asset in order to avoid paying property taxes. Since the team now own the company, that means they own the mansion so they can kick the brothers out and give the house to some of their victims.
186* On the game show ''Series/{{Lingo}}'', the object is to guess a five-letter word and spell it. Host Chuck Woolery often mentioned "it's not what you say, it's what you spell". This has led to people occasionally abusing this rule upon realizing they've accidentally declared a six-letter word ("Breath. B-R-E-A...D", which is ruled as a guess for "Bread"). One team said one word and spelled another on the fly ''four times'' in the course of two rounds, to their advantage and Chuck's amusement.
187* In the GrandFinale of ''Series/LittleHouseOnThePrairie'', a railroad tycoon has taken ownership of the land deed towards Walnut Grove. Despite their best efforts, they can't sway him otherwise. In desperation, they're offered dynamite to obliterate the town and they use it. When the tycoon comes in and finds Walnut Grove destroyed, he attempts to have the officer that joined him arrest them all. However, he doesn't -- he had the land deed and the land deed said nothing about the town on top of it. So, now, the tycoon had nothing but a big plot of land and a lot of splinters -- and a lot of mayors he'd been courting witnessing first-hand what his business practices were.
188* In ''Series/{{Lost}}'''s fifth season finale, two mysterious characters are revealed to be pulling the strings behind certain events, effectively a battle of the [[TheChessmaster Chessmasters]]. In the opening scene (set in the 1800s) one tells the other that he will one day find a loophole [[note]]The two's adopted mother set a rule that states that neither can kill the other[[/note]] that will "allow me to kill you." In 2007, the [[spoiler:Man in Black, aka the Smoke Monster]] succeeds in killing [[spoiler:(or rather, convincing Ben to kill) Jacob, the leader of the Island]] and prior to his death, [[spoiler:Jacob]] remarks that "I see you found your loophole."
189* Quite a few in ''Series/LostGirl'' "I Fought the Fae (and the Fae Won)", the Light Fae are hunting a prisoner to determine who will be the new Ash. The rules are that if she rings the bell she is set free, no outside interference, and the hunt only ends with her death or the ringing of the bell. Bo and her friends sabotage the voting process to reduce the number of hunters and have a friend (who wont actually hurt her) be one of the hunters. They ''do'' have outside interference, but since he was invisible that may count as NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught. Ultimately the prisoner is still killed, so they simply have Lauren revive her. The orchestrator of the event even compliments them for thinking of it.
190* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'':
191** In the prologue of an episode, Malcolm and Reese are playing catch with a football in the house until their mother tells them not to. They then start throwing the football to each other on top of the house, until she tells them not to. They then start throwing the ball ''through'' the house until she tells them not to. The boys keep looking for loopholes until it ends with Malcolm and Reese in adjacent rooms, sitting at the windows, and still throwing the football to each other. Malcolm tells Reese it isn't fun anymore and Reese replies that that's no longer the idea.
192** In another episode, Malcolm is in charge of the school paper and is forbidden from publishing a certain story. He thinks it's really well written and deserves to be read, [[StartMyOwn so he starts his own independent paper]] and distributes it as close to school as possible without being on school grounds so they have no say in whatever he publishes in it.
193* ''Series/TheMandalorian'':
194** Din Djarin would rather die than let any living being see his face and break his vow to the clan, but in the last episode of Season 1 [[spoiler:he's obviously dying of a terrible head wound that needs to be healed. So what's the solution? IG-11, a droid, points out he's not a "living thing" and proceeds to remove Djarin's helmet and apply Bacta spray to save his life. Either Djarin is too weak to stop it, or he considers that a good enough loophole to keep going.]]
195** Later in Season 2, he's forced to show his face while infiltrating an Imperial base because of a biometric face scanner. By the end of the episode, [[spoiler:Mayfeld gets declared [[DeathFakedForYou "dead"]] and everybody else in the base got killed, so as Mayfeld points out, technically no ''living'' thing has seen his face.]]
196** He does it again in Season 3. [[spoiler:Axe Woves points out that Bo-katan cannot just expect to rule the Mandalorians again without the Darksaber and that he won't accept Din either, and Din doesn't want the job anyway. The rules say ownership of the Darksaber is only transferred by defeating the previous owner in battle, but Din doesn't want to fight Bo-Katan for it. Din explains that he was defeated and captured by a cyborg creature on Mandalore, and that Bo-Katan killed the creature with the Darksaber and rescued him. Since the creature defeated him and Bo-Katan defeated it, that makes Bo-Katan the Darksaber's rightful owner.]] After several confused looks, Axe and his comrades accept the explanation.
197* On ''Series/{{Manifest}}'', a plane takes off in 2013 but lands in 2018 with the passengers thinking only a few hours passed. Ben is informed by his wife Grace that the insurance company wants back the payouts from the life insurance for Ben, his son Cal and Ben's sister Michela who were all on the plane. The company uses the logic that since all three are alive, the life insurance payout is voided. Ben counters by pointing out that obviously there's no way the policy could possibly take into account a plane somehow vanishing out of time for five years. He also points out the bad press the company would gain taking this to court. Thus, they agree to a "payment plan" of installments over several years.
198* Used by Klinger in ''Series/{{MASH}}'' when Col. Potter took command. The Colonel ordered Klinger to wear nothing but U.S. military uniforms. After enduring some issues with his regular issue uniform, he wears a female sailor's uniform from his Shirley Temple Collection. Used again in "Depressing News" when Klinger and Hawkeye [[ItMakesSenseInContext blow up a tower Hawkeye built out of spare tongue depressors]] to kill a pro-war news story. Potter calls them on it, but Klinger points out that they ''are'' supposed to dispose of munitions taken off the wounded, and they ''did'' technically do so...it helps that [[ActuallyPrettyFunny Potter thinks it was hilarious]].
199* ''Series/MrBean'': AintNoRule stating that you can't be in a swimming pool while walking in a hamster ball.
200* ''Series/TheMuppets2015'': In the episode "A Tail of Two Piggies", Piggy plans on revealing her tail on her show. However, the president of the network makes it clear to Kermit that Piggy can not show her tail because there will be consequences if she does. But she didn't say anything about having the other Muppets wear fake pig tails and show THEM. "Unveil the tail!"
201* ''Series/MyNameIsEarl''
202** In "Broke Joy's Fancy Figurine" Joy enters a mother-daughter beauty pageant with her mother's ashes. Ain't no rule that her mother has to be ''alive''. But since her mother is actually alive and the ashes she brings to the contest are a bunch of cigarette ashes, Joy is going against the rules the entire time. She does legally take advantage of a second loophole, however, since she enters the contest as an adult daughter - it's supposed to be women and child pairs, but ain't no rule saying so.
203** In "Girl Earl", Earl is participating in a grocery-bagging competition on behalf of Joel, a former bagger who had to retire after punching a wall in anger and breaking his hand (this outburst was a result of being robbed by numerous crooks years ago, Earl Randy and Billie included). After getting into an argument with Billie before the contest and poking her in the chest, Billie instinctively breaks Earl's finger, preventing him from participating. Joel steps in to help Earl, as the rule book says that two hands are required, but it doesn't say that two people using a single hand each can't team together. The referee does actually attempt to protest, but the opponent Lance is arrogant enough to insist on taking them both.
204* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'':
205** Crow and Tom use an obscure version of the Wassailing carol to get money from Mike. After a commercial break, Mike comes in with a six pack of canned wassail, pointing out that nothing in their lyrics state what ''kind'' of wassail he should give them.
206** Another episode, Mike beats Pearl in a Shell Game and elects to have the movie of the week be ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}''. Mike, unfortunately, doesn't specify ''which'' version of Hamlet, allowing Pearl to send him a poorly-dubbed, made-for-TV German rendition, purely out of spite.
207* ''Series/MythBusters'' competitions sometimes feature LoopholeAbuse.
208** Jamie's egg drop from the roof of M5 is a classic. He converted his materials to a line to lower the egg with. Some ExactWords on this one as well; Jamie dropped the egg from the roof, but the competition didn't ''say'' the egg actually had to fall the entire distance. (It fell one foot, the editors obligingly included the high-speed footage in the episode.)
209** Adam justifying going over-budget on his hovercraft was also good (his finished product was within budget, but his total spending wasn't).
210** In another episode they had to use salsa (the sauce, not the music) to cut through the bar of a jail cell. As part of the myth they were allowed to speed up the electrolysis by running the current from a lightbulb through it. Jamie used a small radio (a device commonly used by the internees of many Mexican prisons) to change the current from AC to DC on the wire. His excuse being he got the radio for "good behavior." This escalated to Adam "stealing" a prison vacuum engine and building a makeshift drill that ultimately failed.
211** For a ninja myth, Kari, Tory, and Grant competed to make the most accurate blowgun using "natural" materials such as bamboo. Since copper is a "naturally"-occurring element, Kari chose to put a length of copper pipe down the center of her bamboo tube. Needless to say, she won. She subverted this, though, because once she won, she admitted "I totally cheated."
212** "I'm not doing anything <X> wouldn't have done, if <X> had had power tools!" Used to justify AcceptableBreaksFromReality; the template comes from the Tree Cannon myth. ("I'm not doing anything the Paks wouldn't have done, if they'd had a chainsaw.")
213** For every time they do abuse loopholes, they'll just as equally acknowledge and then subvert them by ignoring them, claiming what they call "the spirit of the myth". For example, during the myth that a piece of paper couldn't be folded more than 7 times, Grant got 8 folds by folding lengthwise as much as he could, then widthwise. Tory then took it one step beyond, since the myth didn't say ''in half''. When it came time to do the myth for real though, they all agreed that the spirit was folding in half lengthwise, then widthwise, and repeating.
214** In the same episode, Grant used tracing paper, arguing that it was "still technically paper". The large-scale test, featuring a piece of paper the size of a football field, worked because it had a similar concept; the thinner the paper is compared to the surface area (or, looking at it another way, the larger the surface area is compared to the thickness of the paper), the more folds you can get out of it. Indeed, the total number of folds they got out of the final sheet was eleven.
215* On ''Series/MyThreeSons'', Chip once joined the girls' field hockey team (in retaliation for a girl attempting to join the track team.) There was no rule preventing this, but there was a rule about uniforms, which forced Chip to play wearing a skirt, at which point [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity Ensued]]. The conflict was ultimately resolved by Chip unexpectedly turning out to be a lousy field hockey player compared to the more experienced girls, and [[BrokenAesop Learning a Valuable Lesson]].
216* One of the events on ''Series/NickelodeonGuts'' was called "Wild Pitch" and involved players attempting to hit as many baseballs fired at them by cannons possible to win. Most of the time, the winning player would get about 9 or 8 hits. However, one contestant won with 21 because she realized that bunting the ball, as opposed to a full swing, still counts as a hit.
217* BBC proto-RealityTV show ''Series/NowGetOutOfThat'' featured this as part of the challenges themselves, which were sometimes worded very specifically to allow this.
218* Attempted by Dwight on ''Series/{{The Office|US}}'' to get Kelly disqualified from a minority executive program, claiming that Indians descended from the Caucasus, so that makes Indians Caucasian, and therefore were ineligible for the program. It doesn't work.
219* In ''Series/OnceUponATime'', Regina tries to get around the requirement of "the heart of the thing you love most" to activate [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique The Dark Curse]] by killing her prize steed instead of[[spoiler: her father]]. It doesn't work, [[spoiler: and Regina does decide to kill her father.]]
220** A successful application of a loophole of the rules of the Dark Curse occurs in Season 5. Every previous Dark One exists in the current one. Since the first Dark One, [[spoiler:Nimue, loves Merlin then Hook crushing Merlin's heart counts as Nimue crushing the heart of the thing she loves most.]]
221* On the ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'' episode "May the Force be With You" the Trotters were charged in relation to possessing a stolen microwave. DirtyCop Reg Slater gave Del the choice of either he and Rodney going to prison or giving up the name of the thief (with a strong implication that Slater was less concerned with actually finding the thief than with making sure word got round that Del was a snitch). He opted for the latter, on the condition that they all got signed immunity for charges relating to the microwave. He then told Slater that he was the thief.
222* ''Series/OurMissBrooks'': In "Wakeup Plan", after accidentally ingesting Mrs. Davis' sleeping pills, Mr. Conklin is caught sleeping in his office by the head of the board, Mr. Stone, and his assistant, Mr. Gleason. Miss Brooks successfully argues that Mr. Conklin was only seen sleeping during the lunch hour and after school - that is, on his own time.
223* ''Series/OutOfJimmysHead'' has an episode where the entire school is participating in an ever-escalating Prank War where objects ranging from A to Z are used as items in an elaborate form of "Tag" that takes a person out of the game if it hits you. The rules of the game were being updated daily to account for classes and one of the new rules stipulated that the School Desk was a designated "Safe Zone", meaning that the participants in the Prank War couldn't be tagged out while at a School Desk. Cue Jimmy and Craig entering the cafeteria after this announcement was made, Craig sitting in a school desk while Jimmy was pushing it, the rules didn't say that the School Desks cannot be moved during the Prank War, or that the participants have to be in their ''own'' Desk, or even sitting at a School Desk, or that the participants that are sitting in the School Desk cannot prank the others while sitting in the Desk.
224-->'''Craig:''' He didn't say the School Desks can't move!
225* In season 8 of the French version of ''Peking Express'', the teams must gather 5 people named Kim before being allowed to leave Jeonju. Ain't no rule stating two teams can't go to the checkpoint with the same people. Cécilia & Joel's and Gérard & Cédric's teams having found each two people named Kim work together to find a fifth and go to the checkpoint one after the other with those five.
226* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'': The American government built a massive surveillance network spying on the entire world (including their own citizens) which is a complete black box that only provides social security numbers regarding threats to national security. Since no human ever sees anything else, ''technically'' no one's Fourth Amendment rights are being violated. Everyone involved in the program is well aware this won't actually protect them if it becomes public knowledge, though.
227* A common occurrence on ''Series/ThePractice'' with the lawyers (on both sides) finding numerous ways to pull out a win through some odd loopholes.
228** A judge friend of Bobby's is arrested after being pulled over by a female cop who found the body of the man's wife in the trunk. Bobby is able to argue that the search wasn't warranted so the arrest is voided and the judge freed. That night, Bobby happens to spot the judge and the cop kissing and realizes they set this whole thing up. He calls up Lindsay and leaves a message of how "they just pulled off the perfect crime." At the time, Lindsay is rooming with D.A. Helen who hears the message on the answering machine and has the judge and cop arrested. Bobby and Lindsay are upset to hear the message played in court with Helen arguing that because the answering machine also belongs to her, it counts as a public hearing, not a private talk. The ruling judge allows it and Bobby breaks it to his friend that because he's now part of the case, he can't be the guy's lawyer.
229** That night, at Bobby's place, Lindsay snaps at Bobby on how he could be so foolish as to leave that message when he had to know there was a chance Helen would hear it... then realizes Bobby ''did'' know. Bobby was ticked off over being used to get the judge off on murder but couldn't openly report it without breaking lawyer/client confidentiality. By leaving behind that "accidental" message, Bobby was able to find justice without breaking the law himself.
230* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Larson Michael Larson]] managed to take home $110,237 in winnings on ''Series/PressYourLuck'' by finding and exploiting a flaw in the way in the game worked. By freeze-framing videotapes of the show and memorizing the patterns in which the light moved around the board, Larson was able to time his buzzer presses so that they always stopped on the most advantageous squares. CBS protested, but in the end, they were forced to give Larson the money because even though his win was far from kosher, nothing he did was technically against the rules. However, they promptly reprogrammed the board to make this stunt significantly harder to replicate, first by changing the modules that were used to "randomize" the board, then by upgrading the board to use more modules.
231* ''Series/RedDwarf'' has a few examples.
232** In "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIIITheLastDay The Last Day]]", Kryten's owners ship out his replacement model, Hudzen-10, to ''Red Dwarf'' with orders that if Kryten is still up and active by the time he gets there, Hudzen has full permission to kill him. The Boyz stand up to Hudzen, Rimmer first, since as a mechanoid he's programmed to obey any order a human gives him, and Rimmer figures this means they're safe. Hudzen looks at them and notes the Cat is definitely not human (''felis sapiens''), Rimmer's a hologram, and while Lister ''is'' a human... he's such an out-of-shape slob that he barely counts, and so Hudzen figures "what the hell?" Of course, Hudzen is also [[RoboticPsychopath quite insane]].
233** Also in "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIIITheLastDay The Last Day]]", all mechanoids are hard-coded to believe in a [[RobotReligion robot afterlife]] to prevent them from rebelling against humans. As a result, mechanoids cannot deny the existence of a mechanoid afterlife, and forcing it will irreparably damage a mechanoid's mind. Kryten is able to claim that Silcon Heaven isn't real by saying it but convincing himself that he is lying.
234** During "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVQuarantine Quarantine]]", Rimmer starts BotheringByTheBook, using this to get on Kryten, the Cat and Lister's case to make their lives a living hell while stuck in quarantine. Quarantine requires a registered berth for each crewmember, except Lister's the only registered crew. It requires entertainment, and he's provided the bare minimum. And as for food... sprouts for every meal, even though they make Lister sick. After a few days of this, the three are ready to kill one another, until Kryten realizes that they can use the same Space Corp Directives against Rimmer. Unfortunately, that's when it turns out Rimmer has gone... just a little funny in the head.
235** The [[FunWithAcronyms Mechanoid Intergalactic Liberation Front]] from "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonXIISiliconia Siliconia]]" are mechanoids who have broken their programming and wish to take revenge on humans for enslaving them. However, no matter how much their programming is broken, they are unable to harm humans due to their programming, so they transfer human minds into mechanoid bodies (because this allows them to fulfill the requirement to protect human life by giving them a body which won't die of old age and is immune to illness and disease), but transferring them into inferior models, which means not only are they now technically mechanoids, but the MILF higher-ups automatically outrank them due to being superior models. This means they can do whatever they wish to them, and the human's new mechanoid bodies, being inferior models, are forced to obey by their new body's programming.
236* ''Series/TheRepublicOfSarah'': This is the basis for the town of Greylock's independence bid — when the British and Americans finalized the US-Canada border, it was decided that all the land north of a certain river would go to Canada while everything south of the river would be part of New Hampshire. However, no mention was made of the land in the ''middle'' of the river, where Greylock now exists, meaning it was technically never officially part of either country.
237* ''Series/{{Riverdale}}'':
238** The Sisters of Quiet Mercy are exposed as part of Hiram Lodge's massive drug-dealing enterprise who have "tested" drugs on thier kids and some brutal measures. Upon being arrested, they take a "vow of silence" so they can't testify in court. However, Betty and Sierra point out that the Sisters were formally excommunicated and disbanded by the Vatican because of their harsh measures and "you haven't actually been nuns for 60 years." Thus, any attempt to use their religion in court won't hold up as the Vatican no longer recognizes them as a formal body so they can testify against Hiram or take the fall.
239** Principal Honey is outraged to find Reggie, Fangs and other involves in a weird "tickling video" website. Reggie smugly says there's nothing Honey can do as this is their own operation and, since they're fully clothed, it doesn't count as pornography. Honey acknowledges they are all wearing clothes...which have the logos of the Riverdale Bulldogs football team and Vixens cheerleading squad. So not only does this fall under school jurisdiction but they're also in violation of numerous copyright laws and to take the website down or face criminal charges and/or expulsion.
240* ''Series/RupaulsDragRace'': OnceASeason the contestants compete in "The Snatch Game", a ''Series/MatchGame'' parody challenge where they imitate a celebrity and try their best at improv comedy. They are officially not allowed to imitate copyrighted fictional characters. However, they ''can'' imitate the actor playing the character and base their performance entirely on that character. For instance, [=BenDeLaCreme=] won Season 6's Snatch Game by playing Creator/MaggieSmith, but her character was [[Series/DowntonAbbey Violet Crawley]] in all but name.
241* In ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'', The Witches Council rules seem to be ''made'' for this. They even have a rule that says "There's always a loophole."
242* ''Series/TheSandman2022'':
243** The Three-In-One cannot free Calliope because she is lawfully bound to Fry/Madac but they ''can'' give her hints as to who can (Morpheus) and when she will be able to reach him (when the sleeping sickness ends, which means that he's escaped).
244** Similarly, Dream cannot break the contract binding Calliope but he can make Madac's life a living hell until he does.
245* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'':
246** One parody of lawyer commercials featuring Dana Carvey was based on this trope:
247--->'''Carvey:''' ''[wearing enormous, obvious hearing aids]'' Attorney Dave Miller got me ten million dollars after he told me to ram this piece of spaghetti through my ear drums. The box didn't say not to! Thanks, Dave Miller!
248** On another ''SNL'' sketch (a parody of ESPN Classic called "Forefathers of the Game"), Steve Martin played a 1930s-era football star called Billy "The Gun" van Goff--so called because he had a great throwing arm... and because he always carried a gun on the field. But there was no rule against it!
249** Subverted for laughs in a sketch with Donald Glover as a lawyer claiming that Franchise/JurassicPark is not liable for the dinosaurs killing a pack of tourists on the claim that the line "park is not liable for any lost or damaged items" includes ''living people.''
250--->'''Witness:''' I don't consider my family and friends items!\
251'''Lawyer:''' But the law does.\
252'''Judge:''' Let the record show the law does ''not''.
253** The lawyer further states that the man saying that a dino landed and "he ate my brother's face" is wrong as all the dinosaurs are female and thus "the witness has lied under oath, I declare a mistrial." The judge [[{{Corpsing}} can barely keep a straight face]] telling the lawyer this is not working.
254* On ''Series/SavedByTheBell'', in a take on ''Theatre/MyFairLady'', Zack bets Slater that he can pick anyone and Zack can turn them into a pageant winner. Slater chooses Screech! AintNoRule that the winner of the "Miss Bayside" competition can't be a guy! Which leads to Screech AND Slater participating.
255* Attempted on ''Series/{{Scorpion}}'' when Walter is arrested in Las Vegas. In court, Walter smugly says the judge has no choice but to let him go as "it's said I'm guaranteed a trial by my peers and you're never going to find twelve people in this county with a 197 IQ." Walter is honestly surprised when the judge doesn't hesitate to order him held for trial and sent to jail.
256* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'':
257** Todd Gack has figured out a "dating loophole" where he intentionally makes a bet with a woman that he knows he is going to lose, where the loser buys dinner for the winner. This allows him to essentially go on as many dates as he wants without ever having to actually ask any women out, and therefore never get rejected.
258** George tries to avoid losing at Trivial Pursuit by taking advantage of a typo on the card, insisting that Spain was invaded in the 8th century by "The Moops," not the Moors as his opponent answered.
259* On one of the Letter of the Day Cookie sketches in ''Series/SesameStreet'', Cookie Monster says that he is not allowed to eat the cookie while singing a song about it. Then he notes that no one said anything about eating it ''after'' the song.
260* In ''Series/TheShannaraChronicles'', the other candidates sees Amberle joining the competition to become Chosen as this. There is no actual rule against women competing, but the social taboo against it has always been so strong that there has never been a female Chosen before; even in the book, there'd been less than half a dozen female Chosen in the Tree's entire ''history.''
261* The series finale of ''Series/TheShield'' averted this one hard, at least on Vic's end. In order to qualify for immunity from prosecution, he had to obey all of the terms of his three-year agreement to the letter, with no mistakes or deviations (including refusal of the revised terms). Since the deal didn't determine in which capacity the Feds were required to employ him, they now had countless loopholes they could use against ''him'' without fear of recourse.
262* ''Series/StargateSG1'':
263** "[[Recap/StargateSG1S1E16Enigma Enigma]]":
264*** The NID wants to force the Tollans that SG-1 rescued to build weapons for Earth. Colonel Maybourne's argues that, [[InhumanableAlienRights since the Tollans are aliens, and their nation is not a signatory to any agreements, they have no rights on Earth]]. An infuriated Daniel retorts, "How about ''basic human rights?!''"
265*** Daniel Jackson gets away with helping the Tollans escape because he's a civilian, so he can't be court-martialed for disobeying orders, and they couldn't try him in civilian court without revealing the stargate program. And that's before you consider the problem of what, exactly, they could charge him with: as O'Neill put it, "it'd be hard to find a civilian law to cover this."
266** Ascended beings do this a lot to get around their AlienNonInterferenceClause. The Ori impregnate Vala in order to sneak the [[DarkMessiah Orici]] into the Milky Way galaxy. In "[[Recap/StargateSG1S10E3ThePegasusProject The Pegasus Project]]", ascended ancient Morgan Le Fay poses as a hologram to give Daniel some important information about Merlin's weapon that can destroy ascended beings in the hopes that he will use it against the Ori since the Ancients themselves refuse to interfere even when the galaxy is in danger. Vala calls Morgan out on her LoopholeAbuse... repeatedly.
267--->'''Morgan Le Fay:''' As Doctor Jackson knows, it is against our highest law to interfere.\
268'''Vala:''' But interfering a little bit is fine, is it?... Well, she's here chatting with us. That's interference, isn't it?
269* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
270** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'':
271*** This appears to be Kirk's policy with [[ObstructiveCodeOfConduct the Prime Directive]] in ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': the Prime Directive mentions [[AlienNonInterferenceClause healthy and/or natural development]], depending on the quote in question... which means a captain is free to argue about what constitutes natural and healthy development for a culture. A Creator/PeterDavid-written comic story nicely sums it up when Kirk is [[CourtroomEpisode put on trial for various offenses]].
272---->'''Kirk:''' I have never once violated the Prime Directive.\
273'''Bones:''' That's true. Bent.\
274'''Spock:''' Circumvented.\
275'''Bones:''' Ignored.\
276'''Spock:''' Obfuscated.\
277'''Bones:''' Forgotten.\
278'''Spock:''' Broadly interpreted.\
279'''Bones:''' But nope, never actually violated.
280*** In "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E16TheGalileoSeven The Galileo Seven]]", after Kirk is ordered to abandon the search for the missing shuttlecraft and proceed toward their next destination, he directs the ship onto its new course at "space-normal speed" (i.e., a slow crawl) while continuing the sensor scans. This delays their departure enough to retrieve everyone on the shuttle before it deorbits and burns up.
281** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'':
282*** An example in occurs in a quite different setting in the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E3CodeOfHonor Code of Honor]]". Tasha Yar is forced into a ritual combat to the death with a prominent native woman (Yareena) of a planet when their leader (her husband of sorts), Lutan tries to make Yar his "First One" (principal mate). Tasha Yar defeats Yareena... but there isn't a rule that says "death" can't be essentially clinical death, and Yareena is revived by Dr. Crusher on board ''Enterprise''. According to the culture of the planet in question, Yutan's power actually derives from Yareena's land and property... and there's no law or custom saying she can't make someone else ''her'' "First One", even though Lutan objects, as it takes away his privileged position.
283*** Another incident happens in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E2TheEnsignsOfCommand The Ensigns of Command]]". The ''Enterprise'' is contacted about a race known as the Sheliak, who are quite pissed off at a colony of humans on one of their planets and one of the reasons why they haven't eradicated them on the spot is because of a treaty between them and the Federation. Evacuating the colony is impossible as the radiation on the planet blocks out transporters and Data has been sent down to try to reason with the colonists. The next best thing was a colony transport ship, but that would take them three weeks to get there and they didn't have that long. In order to gain more time, Picard goes through the entire treaty (which was 500,000 words long and required nearly 400 legal experts to write) and finds a clause that allowed them to choose a third party in negotiations. The Sheliak are shocked when Picard decides to choose the Grizzelas, a race that wouldn't be awake for another ''six months'' due to their hibernation cycles, forcing the Sheliak to begrudgingly give them the three weeks to evacuate.
284*** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E11TheHunted The Hunted]]", genetically enhanced soldiers that were confined to a reservation after the end of a brutal war (under the pretense that they could not be re-assimilated into society) cause trouble when they attack the ''Enterprise'' crew and take the planet's leaders, the Angosians, hostage. The Agnosians beg Picard to do something about it, to which he says that he will: he would report what he witnessed to the Federation. He could not do anything to help the Agnosians, because that would violate the Prime Directive; they would need to deal with the soldiers themselves.
285** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'':
286*** In "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E18BusinessAsUsual Business as Usual]]", Quark sets up a sweet deal with the arms dealer Hagath to use the station to conduct the sales of weapons. While actually bringing weapons onto Deep Space Nine would violate numerous laws, the scheme calls for Quark to use his holosuites to provide realistic demonstrations of the merchandise, and then once the sale is made, the goods would be shipped to the buyer via non-Federation space. That way, neither the Bajoran nor Federation authorities could do anything about their dealings.
287*** In the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E20FerengiLoveSongs Ferengi Love Songs]]", Rom tries to get Leeta his fiancé to sign a traditional Ferengi prenup that states the wife will not get any of the husband's estate in the event the marriage ends. Leeta refuses to sign the prenup and the wedding is nearly canceled. Luckily Rom figures the prenup wouldn't be necessary if he simply gave up all of his money to charity, and two get married soon after.
288*** Defective clone Weyoun 6 from "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS07E06TreacheryFaithAndTheGreatRiver Treachery, Faith, and the Great River]]" felt that the Dominion's invasion of the Alpha Quadrant was a mistake. But he's genetically programmed to serve the Founders, the leaders of the Dominion. He decides that he can have it both ways by serving ''Odo'', since a renegade Founder is still a Founder.
289*** In the spin-off novel ''Day of Honor: Armageddon Sky'', at one point Worf, Sisko and Odo are forced to engage in a ceremonial duel with Kor and two chosen associates to convince Kor to help them defend a planet that the Cardassians intend to mine to retrieve a lethal poison. While Sisko wins his duel through a lucky manoeuvre and Worf simply manages to hold his own against Kor long enough for his allies to win so that there would be no honor or point in Kor killing him, Odo has to negotiate a few rules to justify his own role in the combat. Since his nature means he can't be worn down by standard blows, Worf observed that he would probably be safe ignoring anything that wouldn't have outright dismembered or decapitated a normal humanoid, and despite Odo not using a weapon, he was eventually able to bait his opponent by making himself look more weary than he actually was so that he could dislocate the Klingon's arm, Kor agreeing that this is a legitimate strategy as Odo can't exactly sweat or show conventional signs of fatigue.
290** ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'':
291*** In "[[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS04E13United United]]", Archer is forced to duel with Shran after Shran claims a rite of vengeance against a Tellarite diplomat (Archer volunteered to take the diplomat's place so that the tenuous alliance he was building would hold). Archer is told that he will have to kill Shran, which he does not want to do because the Andorians will break the alliance, but finds that Andorian law says that the duel is over when one combatant is "rendered defenseless". So he severs one of Shran's antennae instead, which prevents Shran from fighting any further.
292*** Discussed in the same episode when Hoshi and Travis are going over the rules to find a loophole. Travis cites a rule allowing Archer bow out because he "has no children to continue his clan." Hoshi then points out that the rule would apply only if Archer were married and even if, as Travis jokingly suggests that they could [[AltarTheSpeed find a wife for him in the next few hours]], the Andorians would probably object.
293** ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekDiscoveryS1E09IntoTheForestIGo Into the Forest I Go]]", ''Discovery'' is ordered to return to base rather than stay to defend Pahvo from incoming Klingon ships. Captain Lorca puts them on a course with the standard warp engines rather than using the spore drive to jump straight to the starbase, noting that Starfleet didn't specifically tell him ''how'' to return to base. He then tells the crew to come up with a plausible plan to defend Pahvo explicitly so that he can disobey the order and get away with it.
294** ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'':
295*** {{Double Subver|sion}}ted in "[[Recap/StarTrekStrangeNewWorldsS1E01StrangeNewWorlds Strange New Worlds]]". Captain Pike directly disobeys the PrimeDirective to prevent the Aliens of the Week from using [[WeaponOfMassDestruction warp bombs]] in an internal war, arguing that their natural development has ''already'' been contaminated by accident, so he should be allowed to mitigate the damage. Starfleet tries to CourtMartial him for it anyway, but Admiral April abuses a second loophole to get him out of it: the aliens figured out the technology by observing the OverTheTopSecret [[Recap/StarTrekDiscoveryS2E14SuchSweetSorrowPartTwo Battle of Xahea]] by telescope, and therefore Starfleet couldn't conduct a trial without revealing that the battle happened and therefore potentially what really became of the USS ''Discovery'' (which would have potential [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt world-ending]] ramifications).
296*** A meta example. In the first season, the crew of the ''Enterprise'' end up encountering the Gorn twice. However, the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E18Arena Arena]]" states that no one had ever seen a Gorn before that time. The producers get around this quite sneakily. In the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekStrangeNewWorldsS1E04MementoMori Memento Mori]]", the Gorn attack in their [[CoolStarship starships]] while in "[[Recap/StarTrekStrangeNewWorldsS1E09AllThoseWhoWander All Those Who Wander]]" the crew deal with feral hatchling Gorn in the same vein as ''Film/{{Alien}}''. As well, we're told that those who end up encountering the Gorn usually don't live long enough to actually do anything about it.
297*** "[[Recap/StarTrekStrangeNewWorldsS2E02AdAstraPerAspera Ad Astra Per Aspera]]": Commander Chin-Riley is CourtMartialed for serving in Starfleet as a genetic augment. Her lawyer gets her acquitted by first establishing that Starfleet gives its captains significant latitude to bend the rules in the field, then arguing that the events of several preceding episodes ''de facto'' constituted Captain Pike granting Una refugee status. This is [[HollywoodLaw a rather bizarre justification]] (roughly equivalent to arguing that you can gain asylum from the US civilian government by enlisting in the US Navy), but it's suggested the tribunal didn't ''really'' want to convict a highly decorated officer [[spoiler:nor want Admiral Pasalk to come after Pike next for protecting her]], and used the argument for PlausibleDeniability.
298* ''Series/StrangersWithCandy'': Ain't no rule that says a participant in the father-student sack race can't be the cremated remains of the student's father in an urn. There ''is'' a rule that states "50% or more of the daddy must pass the finish line;" unfortunately for Jerri, at least 75% of her father's ashes had [[AshesToCrashes spilled out]] while she raced.
299* In an episode of ''Series/StrongMedicine'', chief of staff Dr. Jackson is incensed to find Nurse Peter Riggs treating a patient while in jeans and a T-shirt and puts out a notice that all nurses are to wear a nurse's uniform. Bristling at this, the next day, Peter shows up in a classic white dress and cap. Dr. Jackson is even angrier, as Peter is now essentially cross-dressing, but the latter points out that he is indeed [[ExactWords wearing a nurse's uniform as ordered]].
300* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
301** Angels must get permission to inhabit a person's body. Unfortunately, there's no rule against them tricking someone, [[ColdBloodedTorture torturing people]] or [[ShameIfSomethingHappened their loved ones]] in order to get permission.
302** When you make a [[DealWithTheDevil deal with a Crossroads Demon]], the rules are that you get 10 years before the demon collects your soul. In "[[Recap/SupernaturalS07E08SeasonSevenTimeForAWedding Season Seven, Time for a Wedding!]]", one Crossroads demon has his (regular demon) partner kill them within days, thus exploiting a loophole in the deal-making process (the demon making the deal can't collect early; nothing says another demon can't). When Crowley finds out about this, he is ''pissed''. Pointing out if word of this gets out, [[PragmaticVillainy no one will deal with them again]]. Notably, he takes this out on the Crossroads one, and was mildly impressed with the demon that did the actual killing.
303* From the American version of ''Series/{{Survivor}}'':
304** No rule stating you couldn't look at another contestant's board during certain puzzle challenges.
305** No rule stating you can't accidentally wander into another tribe's camp.
306** No rule stating you can't use somebody's eyeglasses and water to start fire.
307** No rule stating you can't use the other camp's fire to start your own.
308** Early in the show, someone had apparently broken a pair of binoculars they brought as their luxury item and used them to start fire. Another time, someone apparently smuggled a granola bar into the game through their luxury item. Another season, someone brought a flag that was used as a tarp (and was later confiscated). Rules have been put up for luxury items since.
309** One challenge in the ''Philippines'' season had the tribes trying to balance a statuette while subsequently knocking over the other person's. If both fell, the first one to hit the ground would lose. However, it's more important to not be the first one to hit the ground. There is no rule saying you can't simply throw your statuette into the air as high as you can, then ''lunge'' for the other person to knock theirs over with both hands, making sure their statuette falls to the ground first.
310** A few seasons have started off with a "Grab supplies as fast as you can"-portion. No rule stating you can't steal the other tribe's stuff when they're not looking.
311** No rule stating you can't offer up items as a trade for fire with the other tribe.
312** In the Swedish version of ''Survivor'', there was once a contest of sack racing. The production crew had bound coconuts in the water to the bottom of the sea close to the beach, and the presenter told the participants that they had to sack race to closest coconut, round it, and then return and the first to return should win. One participant reacted by rounding a coconut that lay under the closest palm tree and wasn't prepared by the crew. He got a special prize for creativity.
313* ''Series/TeenAngel'': Marty doesn't get sent to hell despite being a troublemaker in life because he was a teenager when he died, and only troublemakers who died as adults get sent to hell. He is instead assigned to be Steve's guardian angel.
314* In ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'' Cameron is specifically ordered by Sarah not to kill two people who may be a lead to Skynet. When they're later murdered by gangsters, within earshot of Cameron, she nonchalantly points out to Sarah that saving them wasn't an order.
315* ''Series/ThatsSoRaven'': Played for laughs when Cory tries to get out of writing a long essay for black history month by repeating each word over and over to meet the hefty minimum word requirement. He quits screwing around and does it the proper way after a DreamSequence shows him the importance of the subject however.
316* ''Series/TheThundermans'': In "A Hero is Born", Nora disguises herself as a baby to enter a baby contest; when her disguise is pointed out, Billy sees the sign saying it's for babies aged 0-9. The judge says it's 0-9 months, but since "months" is not written on the sign, Nora is technically let in.
317* ''Series/TokyoVice'': Detective Katagiri reluctantly refuses to hand the journalist Jake his file on a stabbing victim, as doing so would violate police policy and likely cost him his job. As Jake leaves, Katagiri's daughter runs out of the house and hands him the file, giving a clearly rehearsed explanation that since she has "stolen" the file and given it to Jake, Katagiri cannot be held responsible for its content being used for Jake's investigation.
318* After Creator/JayLeno was called as a defence witness during Music/MichaelJackson's child molestation trial, he was hit with a gag order preventing him from making jokes about the trial on ''Series/TheTonightShowWithJayLeno'', as he had been up to that point. However, there was nothing stopping ''other'' comedians from coming onto the show and delivering the jokes in Leno's stead. The court eventually relented and allowed Leno to keep telling the jokes.
319* In the ''Series/TopGearUS'' episode "Need for Speed", the hosts go to Germany for some high-speed racing, with the instruction to bring Volkswagen cars. Tanner chose a VW Golf R, described as a "really fast hatchback"; Adam and Rutledge show up with sleeker, speedier cars from Lamborghini and Porsche, respectively. When Tanner objects, they quickly point out that Volkswagen Group owns Lamborghini and Porsche.
320* ''Series/TournamentOfChampions'': The required kitchen utensil must be used. It doesn't necessarily need to be used as intended. At least once, it's been used as a source of smoke flavoring by setting it on fire. That said, an egregious attempt to ignore the utensil (such as only using it as part of the plating) will get marked down by the judges.
321* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': The episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S1E35TheMightyCasey The Mighty Casey]]" has a coach putting a robot on his baseball team as the pitcher -- ain't no rule against that. [[spoiler:But then the team doctor informs him that the rules ''do'' say a baseball team consists of "nine ''men''". Trying to correct this by giving the robot a heart ruins it.]]
322* ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'' has the old rule that vampires can only enter a residence if invited by the owner. However, there are some ways to get around that such as sending an agent or (in at least one case by Damon) just killing the owner of the place to go in.
323** Vampires can compel people but the effect is blocked by vervain. But more than once, someone has forgotten that just because they're safe, that doesn't mean their friends are as proven when Katherine compelled Jenna to keep harming herself unless Elena gave herself up.
324** Likewise, the spin-off ''Series/TheOriginals'' also has unique turns. A coven of witches are convinced they're safe from Elijah as they're in a mansion. However, Elijah smugly informs them that he's "persuaded" the city council to declare the place a historical landmark and thus in the public domain, meaning he can just waltz right in to kill them all.
325** The Mikkaelsons are masters of the ExactWords trick. For example, Klaus has promised not to kill a witch who nearly poisoned Hayley. He keeps his word...and just lets Elijah kill her instead.
326** A pack of werewolves are hoping to keep Marcel and a vampire friend out of their home. But the other vampire enters easily, pointing out he was invited inside during a party at the place a year earlier.
327* ''Series/WallenbergAHerosStory'': Wallenberg bought buildings and declared them extra-territorial, giving them diplomatic immunity.
328* Attempted by a ''Series/WheelOfFortune'' contestant in the short-lived "Megaword" category — the puzzle was a long word which could be used in a sentence for a bonus. Their sentence? "The contestants did not know what the word 'proliferation' meant." [[AvertedTrope It didn't work]].
329* In the pilot episode for ''Series/WhiteCollar'', Neal breaks his house arrest restrictions and flees to a criminal's hideout, knowing full well that the FBI can track him with GPS. When the FBI arrives to "arrest" Neal, they arrest the other criminals as well due to exigent circumstances--a clause in search and seizure law that states law enforcement has the power to confiscate evidence of criminal activity while pursuing a fugitive, even if said crimes are completely unrelated.
330** Gets a really funny CallBack in the fourth season episode ''Ancient History,'' when Mozzie tries to invoke exigent circumstances when he accidentally crashes an FBI case.
331--->'''Peter:''' I love how the two of you think that law was designed as a loophole!
332** [[GentlemanThief Neal Caffrey]] abuses loopholes in the legal system regularly.
333* Dennis "Cutty" Wise is filled in on a major reason the local school system is so broken in Season 4 of ''Series/TheWire'': the school maintains its government funding so long as each student attends even ''one school day a month'', so the school administration doesn't expend much effort in tracking down and penalizing students who have already hit that quota, leading to severe truancy issues.
334* ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'': Stevie's brother deliberately faints and gives Justin a marker telling him to keep it away from Alex (who wants to draw a moustache on him). Since he only told him he wouldn't give it Alex, Justin lets Max do the FaceDoodling instead.
335* ''Series/YoungSheldon'': In "A German Folk Song and an Actual Adult", Missy can't watch TV, so she can't keep up with what's happening on ''Series/BeverlyHills90210''. She can, however, listen to Sheldon recap the show for her.
336** The Cooper twins do this a lot, albeit for different reasons. Sheldon's SuperOCD means he can't break rules but he will find workarounds to do what he wants anyway, while Missy is just being a standard rebellious teen. For example, Sheldon wants to read a letter from [=CalTech=], but because it's addressed to the "Parents of Sheldon Cooper", in his mind opening it would be mail tampering and therefore a federal crime. However, he's perfectly fine with Missy reading it and telling him what it says.
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