History Main / FantasticLegalWeirdness

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender,'' [[KungFuJesus Aang]] is put on trial for a murder supposedly committed by Avatar Kyoshi, one of his past lives. Unable to come up with another defense, he and his friend resort to trying to summon Kyoshi's spirit to defend herself. It works... except that [[GoodIsNotSoft she confesses to killing the guy]]. Evidently he was really a warlord trying to conquer what's now Kyoshi Island, and his people gave him a HistoricalHeroUpgrade. Aang later tries to argue with Kyoshi that it was an AccidentalMurder, but Kyoshi says that's splitting hairs, and isn't sorry. She absolutely would have killed him in straight combat if she had to.

** The prologue of ''Fanfic/DontSayGoodbyeFarewell'' establishes in passing that you need either the subject's consent or a warrant to use {{telepath|y}}ic examination]] in a criminal investigation: in this case, of an officer whose home planet recently defected from the Federation to the Klingon Empire. Commander Janice Qua refuses and demands an attorney.

** The prologue of ''Fanfic/DontSayGoodbyeFarewell'' establishes in passing that you need either the subject's consent or a warrant to use [[MindReading telepathic examination]] in a criminal investigation: in this case, of an officer whose home planet recently defected from the Federation to the Klingon Empire. Commander Janice Qua refuses and demands an attorney.

*** Additionally supers are considered a "Valuable National Resource", yet, there is no SuperRegistrationAct, no drafting and no shuffling supers to a BlackSite. If any of those things happened, then supers would go into hiding (which was actually what Sydney was worried about early on), leaving the nation vulnerable to supervillains and foreign supers from countries that embrace and respect them. Not only that, but working as a super both in the private and public sector ''[[https://grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-345-ka-pow-ka-blam-ka-ching/ pays really well.]]''

* ''Literature/{{Snuff}}'': {{Subverted}}. Commander Vimes investigates the gruesome murder of a female goblin, but as goblins are incorrectly not considered sapient, the killer can't be charged with murder. Lady Vimes successfully lobbies the rulers of the Disc to have the laws changed, but the killer ''still'' can't be charged because it wasn't illegal when the crime was committed (a very ''real'' legal principle called ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex_post_facto_law ex post facto]]''). Fortunately for the people of the Disc, [[TheKillerBecomesTheKilled the killer kills a guard in an escape attempt and is then killed himself by Vimes's retainer]].

** Clones, especially gate-clones, cause many legal problems as well. Perfect clones such as gate-clones are legally considered to be the same person as the original up until the moment of their cloning--so if the original committed a crime and was then cloned, the clone is still responsible for it. In the one case shown, a gate clone is tried and sentenced for the original person killing someone while they were manually driving -which in-story means disabling the permanent SI autopilot and (usually) having to install a system to be ''able'' to drive manually, all of which can only be done when cold sober. The guy didn't make his case any better by sassing the judge.

** "Last Enemy'' from his ''Literature/{{Paratime}} universe gives us a society in which reincarnation has now been proven, so their view of death is far more relaxed. Assassination is a legal profession because of this (though there are certain rules, such as no nukes). Near the end of the story, lawsuits start to be launched by people trying to recover property they had in their past lives, though we don't see whether any succeed.

* Played straight or inverted in ''Series/BlackMirror'' depending on the episode. The plot of "[[Recap/BlackMirrorWhiteChristmas White Christmas]]" revolves around [[spoiler:tricking a confession out of a [[BrainUploading digital mind]] upload of a man in interrogation]]. The legal ramifications of that are... shaky, at best. "[[Recap/BlackMirrorWhiteBear White Bear]]" asks the viewers to determine what is or is not [[spoiler:MindRape via repeated torture and induced amnesia]]. Almost every episode has some facet of near future life which would make legal matters incredibly difficult.

* Played with in ''Literature/TheFourGospels''. In [[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2022&version=NIV Matthew 22:23-30]] and [[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+20&version=NIV Luke 20:27-40]] (two versions of the what was probably same incident), a group of Saducees ask Jesus a tricky question about a hypothetical woman who has been married multiple times: whose wife is she on Judgement Day? In both gospels, [[TakeAThirdOption Jesus answers that at the resurrection, no one's marital status matters anymore, so the question is moot]].

* Over at Marvel the ''ComicBook/CivilWar2006'' compared people having superpowers to people having firearms: registration and training was a must to prevent trouble (because of a penchant of mass destruction that followed), and so the SuperhumanRegistrationAct came to pass.[[note]]Apparently overlooked was the fact that neither registration nor training actually ''is'' required to own firearms in the United States and attempts to impose such laws on a national level have always failed. Perhaps because the lead writer was Creator/MarkMillar, who lives in Scotland where such restrictions are very much in place and apparently has very little knowledge of American politics.[[/note]] The situation became much more complicated when people in the government decided to use it as a reason to unleash the DayOfTheJackboot upon innocent Americans. [[ComicBook/CivilWarII Its continuation]] was mostly fueled by a discussion whether applying the PreCrimeArrest was unconstitutional or not (doubly so when the visions that led to said arrests were proven to be unreliable).
* In the Franchise/{{DCU}} any confessions given by suspects under the effects of Franchise/WonderWoman's lasso of truth are not admissible in court, unless the suspect themselves requests it, and even then the jury is meant not to treat any such statements as more inherently true than any other, though the public's perception and knowledge of the lasso tend to undermine this. Such statements are considered coerced.
* Jennifer Walters aka ComicBook/SheHulk is a professional lawyer when not superheroing, and the Dan Slott and Charles Soule runs on her solo title, in particular, concentrated on weird legal issues such as somebody suing for compensation because they didn't like the results of their accidental SuperheroOrigin, or ComicBook/DoctorDoom's son claiming political asylum after a fight with his dad.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'''s backstory, vigilantism was legalized at some point to make costumed heroes (none of whom had actual superpowers until [[RealityWarper Dr. Manhattan]]) legal crime-fighters. However, in TheSeventies a major police strike and nationwide protests led to the passage of the Keene Act, which repealed their legalization.

* In ''FanFic/DumbledoresArmyAndTheYearOfDarkness'', Aurors are saddled with a wonderfully [[WallOfText verbose]] version of the [[YouDoNotHaveToSayAnything British police caution]] in order to plug in the extra legal loopholes that being magical might present. Legal buffs might care to notice that in the Wizarding version, the right to remain silent (which is front and center in the Caution and Miranda) is the ''second-to-last'' thing mentioned. Also please note that unlike the caution, this one is to be recited upon arrest (or when the suspect wakes up from all the stunning spells), not interrogation. It reads as follows:
--> It is my duty that you be made aware of your standing under the Provision of Magical Rights and Liberties. You have been apprehended by officers of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement while engaging in activities reasonably believed to be criminal in nature, and there is intent to hold you in violation of the law. Your wand has been confiscated and may not be returned to you unless you are exonerated of charges by the Wizengamot or equivalent legal due process. Officers of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement may use physical or magical force against you, including such as may cause permanent harm, injury, illness, incapacitation, or death if and only to the degree as is necessary to retain you in custody and to safeguard their own welfare as well as that of others. Any statement or incantation you may say or perform, including via non-verbal means may be used as evidence in a criminal proceeding. You are considered to be innocent until such time as guilt is reasonably proven, however your apprehension in situ is considered temporary grounds upon which you have waived your right to liberty at this time. You have the right to refuse to answer questions, however any false or misleading answers given will result in additional criminal charges. If you believe yourself to be operating under a curse, hex, jinx, or otherwise engaging in your current activities under magical coercion, you may indicate as such at any time. Additional rights and exclusions under wizarding law will be explained to you fully and completely as relevant. Do you understand these rights and exclusions?
* ''Fanfic/TantabusMarkII'':
** It's Luna's job (and she creates the Tantabus to help her) to patrol the dreams of all ponies to protect them from nightmares and encourage good dreams. While helping a cop, the Tantabus realizes there's very little stopping them from just finding criminals through their dreams and giving the information to the police. Luna decides very firmly that this is a breach of privacy and outside their jurisdiction. Criminals actually using dream magic to commit crimes are another story, but there are like five of those per year.
** Pharynx asks if Luna and Moondog patrol changeling dreams. Luna points out that this would, at best, be the cause of a diplomatic incident and a patronizing breach of another nation's sovereign defense. It also turns out that Pharynx is officially Lord Protector of the Changelings, which means that Moondog is very hesitant about interacting with him because even teaching him dream magic has serious diplomatic implications. Luna promotes Moondog to Duchess of Dreams to make things a bit easier for everyone.
* ''Fanfic/MyHeroPlaythrough'' has the Napier Doctrine, a UN resolution to allow member nations to pass laws allowing for trial in absentia, if the criminal's Quirk makes it dangerous to try them in person or remotely. It was named and created for this story's version of Comicbook/TheJoker, whose Quirk caused anyone who saw his face or heard his voice to become a laughing, murderous criminal for thirteen hours, even if they saw or heard a recording. The Doctrine does specify that such trials must still be fair, for example Japan's law under the doctrine says that the trial must be approved by the country's Supreme Court and states that if it is defended by a Public Defender, there must be at least two of them, one of senior rank, and they are offered bonuses for winning. [[spoiler: This is used to try Overhaul, since removing him from his extradimensional cell would be too dangerous.]]

* In ''Literature/AndreaVernonAndTheCorporationForUltraHumanProtection'', all superhero work is privatized, and various counties have exclusive contracts with a superhero corporation. The series focuses on the Corporation for Ultra Human Protection (or CUP), which has a contract with the Bronx. There are plenty of legal loops to jump through in order to allow one corporation's superheroes to help out in another area. This comes up in the second book, when [[spoiler:a group of supervillains decide to steal the Statue of Liberty]]. Since it's located in a special federal district, getting involved there involves a lot of red tape. By the time the submitted form goes through one of the many layers of bureaucratic approvals, [[spoiler:the statue is long gone]].
* ''Literature/{{Eva}}'': It's mentioned that despite being a chimp now, Eva is still legally human, so she doesn't belong to anyone -- unlike the chimps used for research. Eva objects to any chimps being considered property.
* The first section of ''Literature/StrangerInAStrangeLand'' is about how the main character, being the first human ever born on Mars, is theoretically its owner. That gets resolved fairly quickly, after which the plot is about him learning about life on Earth and starting a sex cult.
* In ''Literature/HarryPotter,'' the Ministry of Magic has laws about Dark curses, ownership of magical animals, the rights to carry a wand, etc. Two of the main laws in the story are that a.) underage wizards cannot do magic outside of school (generally waived if [[PowerIncontinence it's an accident]]), and b.) wizards cannot break [[TheMasquerade the Statute of Secrecy]]. Harry himself was once charged for breaking these, but acquitted on the grounds of self-defense (against [[SoulEating dementors]]).
* In the ''Literature/DanteValentine'' novels, Psions (the official name for magic-users in the books' ScienceFantasy world) are often legally accredited professionals whose abilities are admissible in court. Necromances like Danny (able to channel spirits and raise the recently dead) are often hired to settle probate matters by asking the deceased what they want done with their estate. She also mentions she charges extra for criminal cases, and gets very cross with the attorney when hired for a probate only to discover that the decedent was murdered by one of the heirs.
* In the ''Literature/AnitaBlake'' series, Anita's day job as an [[AnimateDead animator]] often involves raising the dead to settle estate matters. Zombies can be raised to settle things like disputes over which version of a will is accurate or not, but they make terrible witnesses in court cases, since they can really only respond to the animator who raised them, and the animator has to ask very specific questions, thus opening them to objections for leading the witness. Zombies are also useless when they've been murdered, as a murdered zombie will, no matter how powerful the animator who raised them is, beeline straight for their murderer and attempt to kill them. It might be useful for the police to track down the killer, but not exactly admissible evidence in a court of law (to say nothing of potential countersuits for siccing a mad zombie on someone without due process).

* in ''Literature/{{Blindfold}}'', the justice system on the planet Atlas is based around the Truthsayer Guild. These individuals are bred and trained to be able to read minds with the aid of a drug called [[MeaningfulName Veritas]], which is strictly illegal for anyone else to use due to the potential for abuse. They use it to determine guilt or innocence by scanning the accused's mind. Every citizen of Atlas has a legal right to be scanned by a Truthsayer, but them being always right and always truthful means that few of those actually guilty will invoke that right, often pleading guilty to a local Magistrate (some of which are washed-out Truthsayers) to get a lighter sentence. A few who think they can trick a Truthsayer or are delusional enough to believe themselves in the right still insist on a reading. Mind readings are public events, and Truthsayer verdicts are final and not subject to appeal. Those convicted of capital crimes are sent to [=OrbLab=] 2 to product Veritas in dangerous conditions (there's a potential for a batch of Veritas to mutate into the dangerous Mindfire strain that fries the brain of anyone exposed to it) until the end of their days.

* Two of Creator/RobertJSawyer's books feature this.
** In ''Literature/MindScan'', there's a trial over whether or not a character who just uploaded her consciousness into an android body can still be considered the same person, or legally dead, with her property going to her son.
** ''Literature/IllegalAlien'' involves a milder example, with an alien charged in the murder of a human.
* ''Literature/JillKismet'' has werewolf and hunter units working as credentialed {{FBI Agent}}s (as well as independently ''a la'' the title character) and mentions a few times that FEMA funds can be used for major supernatural incidents.
* Given its universe is largely dominated by a {{Society of Immortal|s}} [[{{Transhumanism}} Transhumanist]] SpaceElves who consider oaths and contracts to be the cornerstone of civilization, the ''Literature/{{Eldraeverse}}'' frequently examines how various matters of law might work out in a society where death as we know it is more of an inconvenience.
* ''Literature/ThroughVioletEyes'' by Creator/StephenWoodworth revolves around "Violets" (named for their eye color), essentially mediums who can channel the spirits of the dead. The results are admissible in court, though it requires being hooked up to EKG and brainwave readers to prove they're really doing it.
* From Creator/HBeamPiper's novels and stories: "Last Enemy'' from his Paratime universe gives us a society in which reincarnation has now been proven, so their view of death is far more relaxed. Assassination is a legal profession because of this (though there are certain rules, such as no nukes). Near the end of the story, lawsuits start to be launched by people trying to recover property they had in their past lives, though we don't see whether any succeed.
** Piper's Terro-Human Future History books have the veridicator, a LieDetector that can scan people's brains to tell if they're lying or not almost flawlessly. It's commonly used when interrogating people and during trials. Court orders are required for this, but there's no sign the Terran Federation law has a legal right against self-incrimination
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's 1957 short story "A Loint of Paw" deals directly with this. A con man named Stein defrauds someone of over $100,000, then gets into a TimeMachine and travels to the day after the StatuteOfLimitations expires for his crime. The prosecutor and Stein's defense attorney argue about whether the statute of limitations should follow time as experienced by the prosecution/police or as experienced by Stein. In the end, the judge rules for the defendant, because [[{{Feghoot}} the whole story has just been an elaborate set-up for the judge to say]] "[[{{Pun}} A niche in time saves Stein]]."
* In the Verse of ''Literature/GarrettPI'', there are laws on the books which safeguard the status of the ruling royal and noble families against magical tampering. Most notably, making animated simulacra of people is highly illegal because of the risk of imposture, and even Karenta's king is subject to mandatory testing to prove he's not undead if his chief officials collectively demand he do so.

* {{Subverted}} in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/{{Snuff}}''. Commander Vimes investigates the gruesome murder of a female goblin, but as goblins are incorrectly not considered sapient, the killer can't be charged with murder. Lady Vimes successfully lobbies the rulers of the Disc to have the laws changed, but the killer ''still'' can't be charged because it wasn't illegal when the crime was committed (a very ''real'' legal principle called ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex_post_facto_law ex post facto]]''). A VigilanteExecution by Commander Vimes' retainer solves that problem. To be fair to said retainer, the man had broken out of his restraints and was armed with a weapon he'd taken from a guard he'd just killed.
* In ''The Ghatti's Tale'', courts in Canderis have an extra party: specially-trained humans and their sapient feline BondCreatures, who serve as a LivingLieDetector (the ghatti) and an interpreter for the Living Lie Detector (the human, as even overgrown alien cats can't talk the way humans do).

* ''Literature/HayvenCelestia'': On Planetary Acquisitions' {{Generation Ship}}s resources are scarce enough that crew are normally euthanized and recycled at the age of sixty, and most crimes are punished by pushing back the perp's "retirement date". So in effect everything carries a death sentence, the difference is how long it's held off.

* ''Literature/Aeon14'': [=AIs=] govern themselves by intellectocracy and have their own separate court system to deal with [=AIs=] that commit crimes, which is said to be harsher than the legal system for organics in the then-current Sol Space Federation. We get a glimpse of it early in ''Airthan Ascendancy'' when Carmen, an AI and officer in the Intrepid Space Force, is prosecuted for dereliction of duty.[[labelnote:spoiler]]In ''War on a Thousand Fronts'', she assisted Justin's Transcend renegades in disabling the SelfDestructMechanism on the ship she was stationed on, rather than ensure it blew and therefore keeping the ISF technologies aboard--especially stasis shields--from falling into enemy hands.[[/labelnote]] The [=AIs=] accept mitigating factors[[note]]She managed to turn one of Justin's crew, Roxy, and recovered the ship.[[/note]] and sentence her to a "Limitation"--new code forbidding her from ever being a ship's AI again--and a requirement for her core to be installed in a human for the next ten years.
* ''Literature/{{Stardoc}}: Beyond Varallan''. Jorenian marriages, called "Choosing", are for life. After Cherijo is Chosen impulsively by her dead husband's drugged-into-a-hyperaggressive-state brother Xonea, she eventually gets out from under it by having another physician administer a lethal dose of drugs to herself so she can be declared clinically dead, and waiting for her HealingFactor to revive her. She then quickly gets engaged to her SecondLove Duncan to keep the still-drugged Xonea from just Choosing her all over again.
* ''Literature/{{Distress}}'' by Creator/GregEgan: Police in the futuristic setting can use powerful drugs to revive murder victims for a few minutes in hopes that they'll testify. It's terribly painful for the victims and is ambiguous whether it brings them BackFromTheDead or merely animates their corpses, so the practice is being challenged on ethical grounds in-universe.

* The last ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' book briefly features Visser Three, the PuppeteerParasite BigBad, being tried for war crimes at the International Criminal Court. At first they're stumped about how to do this: he can't interact with the courtroom without a host, but one of the court's arguments is that taking one is a war crime, creating a Catch22Dilemma. The Andalites wind up making a machine to help this problem. It's also mentioned that the visser's former host, Alloran, is not being called as a witness, as this was deemed too close to having him testify against himself.
* In ''Literature/ArtemisFowl,'' fairies MustBeInvited into a human residence, the exact details of which are apparently decided by a committee. (It's still a supernatural process, however--fairies who accidentally break the rules become ill, and repeat offenders [[BroughtDownToNormal lose their magic]].) Aside from relying on ExactWords, the first book mentions that fairy cops can consider a call for help to be an invitation. Signs welcoming you to a building also count.
* ''Literature/AscendanceOfABookworm'': Name-swearing creates a CantLiveWithoutYou situation of the name-sworn towards their master and is, in many ways, a voluntary form of magically-enforced slavery. It's mentioned in passing that by giving his name to Ferdinand, Eckhart gave up on being able to inherit his family house and any prospect of becoming the next commander of the Knight's Order.
* In ''[[Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar Brightly Burning]]'', a teenager's TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening (which killed several bullies torturing him at the time) throws the royal court into chaos for this reason. Eventually legal authorities conclude that he's not guilty, based on the principles that a) you can't expect someone who doesn't even know they ''have'' magic to control it, b) the boy was restrained and had no means of escape, and c) the surviving bullies have testified [[LivingLieDetector under Truth Spell]] that they intended to hurt him. It's earlier noted that because Valdemar was built around the (entirely true) premise that [[TheChosenMany Heralds]] have IncorruptiblePurePureness, its current legal system ''can't'' undermine that premise even if given reason to.
* ''Literature/TheReluctantKing'': In "The Unbeheaded King" there's a brief discussion by ghost Baron Lorc who had been a magistrate while alive if he's still got authority to perform a divorce. Since there's [[LoopholeAbuse no law]] saying a ghost can't be a magistrate so far as he knows, Lorc concludes his office is still in effect and grants the divorce.
* ''Literature/SuperPowereds'': In the US, only licensed Heroes are permitted to use their powers to fight criminal Supers. Any other Super doing so it considered a vigilante and is subject to arrest. To get licensed, a Super has to enroll in a Hero Certification Program at one of the five universities offering the four-year program. Out of nearly a hundred annual applicants, only ten get to graduate each year. This is to ensure that only the best of the best are allowed to protect the public. And even after that, the graduates have to intern under an active Hero for two years before they can go off on their own. The Department of Variant Human Affairs (DVA) monitors all Heroes and ensures that they don't step out of line. Heroes that cause too much damage (either by being careless or by unintentionally causing criminal Supers to harm others) can be stripped of their Hero license. Outside of Hero work, Supers can be employed as emergency workers, either as police or fire department contractors or working for private companies as PEERS (Privately Employed Emergency Response Supers). They're allowed to use their powers to rescue people, but they are forbidden from engaging criminal Supers, except in self-defense. It's not stated much about how other nations handle their Supers, but it's vaguely stated that some others have tried making their Supers work for the police or the military, but this made them seem oppressive. The American model turns Heroes into, well, heroes.
* ''Literature/TeamHuman'' is set in a world where vampires exist openly, and 10% of attempted "transitions" result in [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombies]] (and another 10% normal death). The vampires have their own police division in town, and a lot of discussion is given to the legal requirements for [[VampireVannabe people who want to transition]], laws against VanHelsingHateCrimes, protests about keeping zombies in labs, etc.
* In ''Literature/TheDispatcher'' and its sequel ''Murder by Other Means'', the fact that 99.9% of murder victims (and only murder victims) [[ResurrectiveImmortality come back to life]] had a big impact on the legal system. There's now a special profession called Dispatchers, whose sole job is to kill those who are about to die of either natural causes or no-fault accidents. Insurance companies now demand that a Dispatcher be present during any high-risk surgery in order to kill any dying patient. This has also resulted in criminals try to come up new ways of killing people, such as tying them up and leaving them somewhere to die of starvation or exposure. Sure, they'd come back since it counts as murder, but they'd still be suffering from the same problems and likely die of natural causes shortly after.

* ''Literature/XWingSeries'': {{Discussed}} in ''The Krytos Trap'' as Princess Leia tells Wedge that the legal system of New Republic remains very new so they haven't worked things out entirely, which comes up as Tycho has been charged with murdering Corran. The question has been raised, Leia says, of what jurisdiction a case should be tried in when the defendant and a victim are from different worlds (like here). In the actual case, Tycho's tried on Coruscant, where the alleged murder occurred (he and Corran are both from other planets), as is the most logical course anyway (closest to real jurisdiction here on Earth too).

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'':
** Played with in "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS01E04AManAlone A Man Alone]]". [[spoiler:A black marketeer clones himself and kills the clone [[FrameUp to frame Odo for killing him]]. While arresting him, Odo comments, [[ClonesArePeopleToo "Killing your own clone is still murder."]]]]
** "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS01E08Dax Dax]]" has the Klaestrons try to extradite Jadzia Dax to try her for a murder allegedly committed by [[TheNthDoctor the Dax symbiont's previous host Curzon]]. Ben Sisko argues extensively that Jadzia and Curzon are not the same person[[note]]Joined Trill with the same symbiont have different personalities and by Trill tradition are considered different individuals, despite later hosts having the memories of preceding hosts.[[/note]] and therefore Jadzia can't be tried in place of Curzon, [[spoiler:though the entire proceeding is [[DebateAndSwitch rendered moot when Odo proves Curzon had an alibi]]]].
** Sisko's plot in "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS01E14TheStoryteller The Storyteller]]" has him mediating a border dispute between two Bajoran tribes. An ancient treaty had set a river as their border, but then during the recently ended Occupation the Cardassians diverted the river twenty kilometers to the west. One tribe wants to use the river's old location as the border, the other wants to use the new one. Sisko offers a compromise where the old riverbed remains the official border, but the other tribe is still allowed free access to the river in its new location for trade. Both tribes accept this solution.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'':
** Data is an android and a member of Starfleet, which causes problems. In his backstory, a council had to be convened on whether he was eligible to join Starfleet as a person. In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E9TheMeasureOfAMan The Measure of a Man]]", a trial is held to determine whether Data could be considered a piece of Starfleet property rather than a person. In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E16TheOffspring The Offspring]]", there's a question of whether Data would be allowed to "procreate" (create an android similar to himself) without Starfleet approval.
** Betazoid empaths can be used to tell whether witnesses are lying or not, although this does result in false positives at times if the witness is holding back about something that isn't related to the matter they're being questioned on.
* On ''Series/StarTrekVoyager,'' the Doctor, a sapient hologram, sent in a holo-novel he wrote for publication; however, the publisher then decided to publish an early draft without his permission, on the grounds that he had no legal rights to stop it. A trial ensued, and the Doctor won the legal definition of "author," though the judge stopped short of giving him full legal personhood. Interestingly, Captain Janeway's testimony of the Doctor having disobeyed orders in the past was used as evidence that he did, in fact, have free will.
* In ''Series/JessicaJones2015'', one of Jessica's major hurdles is that it's nigh-impossible to force a psychopath with a CompellingVoice like Kilgrave to stand trial, especially when most people don't believe that his powers are real.
* Given that ''Series/{{Grimm}}'' combines a fantasy show with a police procedural, this happens every once in a while. For example, one episode has a trio of supernatural creatures (or "Wesen" as the show calls them) rob a series of banks while in GameFace. It's implied that they can't be indicted since it can't be proven it was them and their "masks" can't be found. A VigilanteExecution renders those issues moot.
* The series ''Series/CenturyCity'' was completely structured around the legal struggles of various people TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, anything from the legality of cloning a child (the original was long dead, and it was well-accepted that it would only biologically be the same) to a baseball pitcher that got a cybernetic eye to replace one lost in an accident being kicked out of his team (because of the belief that the eye was an unfair advantage) and in an unproduced episode a scientist taking CureYourGays to the most literal extreme (having created a procedure that could be applied to unborn children that would reduce the possibilities of them becoming gay when they aged, and essentially dooming all minority sexualities to extinction if it became widespread).

** One of the show's funny moments is a glimpse of the station's courtroom that is completely unrelated to the episode's plot, where a human is suing a Vree (one of the show's alien species, which visually resemble TheGreys and InUniverse are the reason this Ufology belief exists) for reparations because the Vree's ancestor [[AlienAbduction abducted]] ''his'' ancestor (the Vree's defense essentially is that all Vree look alike, while the man boasts of having apparently bullet-proof evidence that identifies said Vree's ancestor as the one who did the abduction). The judge rolls his eyes and asks for an interpreter for the Vree (who responded to the charge by drawing a symbol); we never hear how the case ends.

* ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'': Nora Darhk is from a decade or so in the future, so when she tries to join the present-day Time Bureau, the automated system keeps denying her because current records say she's fifteen years old and in a mental institution.
* Played straight or inverted in ''Series/BlackMirror'' depending on the episode. The plot of "[[Recap/BlackMirrorWhiteChristmas White Christmas]]" revolves around [[spoiler:tricking a confession out of a [[BrainUploading digital mind]] upload of a man in interrogation]]. The legal ramifications of that are... shaky, at best. "[[Recap/BlackMirrorWhiteBear White Bear]]" asks the viewers to determine what is or is not [[spoiler:MindRape via repeated torture and induced amnesia]]. Almost every episode has some facet of near future life which would make legal matters incredibly difficult.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'':
** {{Exploited}} in "[[Recap/StargateSG1S1E16Enigma Enigma]]". Daniel Jackson uses some LoopholeAbuse to escape punishment for helping the Tollans to escape to the Nox homeworld after Colonel Maybourne and the NID try to de facto enslave them to get their scientific knowledge. As a civilian, Daniel cannot be CourtMartialed for disobeying orders, and as he and Jack O'Neill point out, it'd be hard to find a civilian law to cover this situation.[[note]]If you squint, he could ''maybe'' be charged with aiding and abetting an escape from custody, but that's assuming that the court both agreed with Maybourne's argument concerning the (biologically human) Tollans' [[InhumanableAlienRights civil rights status]], and could conduct a trial in the first place given the secrecy of the stargate program .[[/note]]
** In "[[Recap/StargateSG1S3E15Pretense Pretense]]", human Skaara, host to the Goa'uld Klorel, crash-lands on Tollana. Skaara asks for the Tollans to remove Klorel, Klorel demands to keep possession of Skaara's body, so the Tollans take the matter to "triad" and subpoena SG-1 to act as "archons", a combination of lawyer and jury.

[[folder:Religion and Mythology]]
* This is OlderThanRadio. In ''The Age of Reason'', Creator/ThomasPaine briefly wonders about the risen saints mentioned in [[Literature/TheFourGospels the Gospel of Matthew]]: did they try to reclaim their property and spouses, or just go back into their graves after walking around Jerusalem? The Gospel [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse doesn't say]].[[note]]Although in chapter 22, some religious leaders ask a tricky question about a woman who has been married multiple times; Jesus answers that at the resurrection no one's marital status matters anymore so the point is moot.[[/note]]
* Literature/TheTalmud: Ultimately, every debate goes back to "what did God say about this?," but some issues get stranger. For example, Yevamot 122a, in discussing when a man can be considered LegallyDead, brings up a case where the death was announced by an AmbiguouslyHuman figure who disappears, and another where the man himself told people he was dying through something like AstralProjection.
[[/folder]]

* A defense option in [[CourtroomEpisode your murder trial]] in ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'' is to use a boy with TrueSight to cast doubt on eyewitness testimony that you led the massacre of a village (it was really Luskan soldiers under a magical illusion, which he saw through). Your opponent, Luskan ambassador Torio Claven, tries to counter by disputing the boy's ability, but he proves it by telling her about the medallion she has in her pocket. There's also a provision where you can demand trial by combat ''after'' the trial is otherwise over, rendering the trial a complete waste of time. This gets a LampshadeHanging that it's so little used and obscure that both sides were keeping it as an ace in the hole and hoping the other didn't know about it.

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', Earth-born [[HumanoidAliens Uryuoms]], despite being members of an extraterrestrial species are legally citizens of the country on Earth they were born in (at least for those born in a country with birthright citizenship) and thus not legally "aliens". In fact, [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2003-09-03 as noted by William]], American-born Uryuoms could technically legally run for President. However, given that the {{Masquerade}} is still somewhat in effect (at least in the [[TheMultiverse main universe]]), in practice, Uryuoms have no legal standing whatsoever because their very existence is kept secret from the public.
* ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDoctorMcNinja'':
** The police handle [=McNinja=]'s less-than-legal vigilantism by instantly pardoning him if he returns to his office and calls "Base!"
** For some reason, there is a law on the books that anyone becomes a duke if Ben Franklin tells them to go fuck themselves. This was nothing but a silly historical footnote for centuries, until Franklin was resurrected through cloning. Between [=McNinja=]'s wild adventures and Ben's annoyance at said adventures, they leave a lot of dead dukes in their wake.
* In the world of ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', there are a wide variety of ways to bring someone BackFromTheDead to varying degrees. Unsurprisingly, this does not mesh well with a social structure based on inheritance, so the Fifty Families have [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090826#.X_hZEjSSmCo an ironclad rule]] that once you're dead, your titles and lands pass to your heirs even if you later get brought back. It's also mentioned that there have been cases of people trying to conceal the fact that they've been killed and resurrected so that they don't lose their lands and privileges to their next of kin. Also, Klaus Wulfenbach ''doesn't'' obey this rule, because [[AppealToForce his rule isn't based on royal legitimacy, but on superior firepower]].
* ''Webcomic/MobPsycho100'': After Reigen's office is burned down by a [[PlayingWithFire pyrokinetic]] psychic, his insurance agency delay payment because they can't figure out what would cause a fire like that without fuel. This suddenly makes Reigen determined to fight Claw so he can take whoever did it to the agency and legitimize his claim. [[spoiler:His claim goes through when it turns out to be an electrical fire [[ContrivedCoincidence that had nothing to do with the other fire that was caused by a psychic]].]]

* This is basically the concept of the blog ''Blog/LawAndTheMultiverse'', which is written by a professional lawyer who speculates on how would the plots of superhero comic books work within the framework of American law.
* The [[http://superherolaw.com/ Superhero Law]] blog deals with this as well.

* ''Literature/TheLastEnemy'' by Creator/HBeamPiper gives us a society where their view of death is far more relaxed. Assassination is a legal profession because of this (though there are certain rules, such as no nukes). Near the end of the story, reincarnation is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt and lawsuits start to be launched by people trying to recover property they had in their past lives, though we don't see whether any succeed. More sinister is a young boy who is the reincarnation of a high-ranking murdered man testifying who killed him.

** The rise of AI generators like DALL-E and [=StableDiffusion=] that [[UsefulNotes/AIGeneratedArtwork can create art from a text prompt]] have caused some controversy, since these programs rely on pre-existing images to know what the requested image is supposed to look like. Defenders claim that this is no different from a human artist looking at other artists' works for inspiration, while detractors say that taking an artist's work without permission to train an AI should be considered copyright infringement. That's quite apart from the fact that US common law has established that only humans can hold copyrights, but also that only a work's creator can claim one--meaning it's possible that any AI-generated image has ''no'' creator from a legal standpoint and therefore is automatically in the public domain.

* "Literature/WorkEthic": There are legal systems in place that prosecute Cogs that try to take advantage of [[{{Muggles}} Incogs]], Monster leaving Kristine and her Dad the number to an agency that will help reimburse them for their house after it's destroyed by pixies.

* In the world of ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', there are a wide variety of ways to bring someone BackFromTheDead to varying degrees. Unsurprisingly, this does not mesh well with a social structure based on inheritance, so the Fifty Families have [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090826#.X_hZEjSSmCo an ironclad rule]] that once you're dead, your titles and lands pass to your heirs even if you later get brought back. It's also mentioned that there have been cases of people trying to conceal the fact that they've been killed and resurrected so that they don't lose their lands and privileges to their next of kin.

** [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in a fight against Hench Wench, a henchwoman who gains the powers of her current employer, who [[EvilInc exploits corporation law]] to gain the powers of [[https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-891-enter-the-wench-not-that-way-pervs/ several supervillains at once]], and when [[https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-895-fine-print-bitches/ they try to fire her]] (for refusing to surrender [[KnowWhenToFoldEm long after they did]]), they have to [[https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-915-queue-the-lengthy-exit-interview-scene/ gather a two-thirds vote of the supervillains]], but they didn't know they had to get it ratified by the manager ([[https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-916-bad-faith/ which they can't because it's]] ''[[RulesLawyer Hench Wrench]]''); ultimately, the heroes' lawyers have to [[https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-919-objection/ terminate the contract on ethical grounds]] to depower her.

** Prothean artifacts are LostTechnology that form the backbone of the galaxy. The Mass Relays, in particular, are what make intragalactic travel possible at all. Therefore, messing with them in ''any'' capacity is illegal unless you have specific and explicit permission from ''very'' high-ranking people. In the first game, a scientist can't even perform non-destructive scans on the Keepers who maintain the Citadel because everyone is just that scared of causing some sort of problem. It's even more illegal to activate any new Mass Relays if you don't know what's on the other end, because the most recent one caused the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Rachni]] War. [[spoiler: [[AbusivePrecursors This is all part]] of the [[AncientConspiracy plot]] cooked up by the [[MechanicalAbomination Reapers]. They created the Mass Relays, the Citadel and the Keepers and made them crucial to galactic civilization while also making sure nobody [[BlackBox really figures out]] how they actually work until it's too late]].

** Prothean artifacts are LostTechnology that form the backbone of the galaxy. The Mass Relays, in particular, are what make intragalactic travel possible at all. Therefore, messing with them in ''any'' capacity is illegal unless you have specific and explicit permission from ''very'' high-ranking people. In the first game, a scientist can't even perform non-destructive scans on the Keepers who maintain the Citadel because everyone is just that scared of causing some sort of problem. It's even more illegal to activate any new Mass Relays if you don't know what's on the other end, because the most recent one caused the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Rachni]] War.
** Every ArtificialIntelligence ever recorded has immediately TurnedAgainstTheirMasters. Because of this, AI is illegal, researching AI is illegal, and altogether getting anywhere near the concept of AI is illegal. Non-sapient "Virtual Intelligences" are common, but they're basically just well-developed user interfaces and immediately show problems if you try to use them for something outside what they were designed for. In the backstory, the quarians loopholed around the ban by creating a race of [=VIs=] with networking abilities so that they could share information. It didn't take long for the geth as a whole to cross the sapience threshold and rebel ([[UnreliableNarrator according to quarian sources, at least]]), even if individually they remained but fancy calculators.

** Data is an android and a member of Starfleet, which causes problems. In his backstory, a council had to be convened on whether he was eligible to join Starfleet as a person. In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E9TheMeasureOfAMan The Measure of a Man]]", a trial is held to determine whether Data could be considered a piece of Starfleet property rather than a person. In another episode, there's a question of whether Data would be allowed to "procreate" (create an android similar to himself) without Starfleet approval.

** The opening narration notes that governments have had a hard time reworking laws for the sudden appearance of [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Quirks]], which now appear in [[EveryoneIsASuper 80% of all people]]. Superheroes seem to have originally been self-employed vigilantes who became legalized and regulated because of broad public support, but unregistered heroes are still illegal. It's illegal to use your Quirk to harm another, ''[[CrimeOfSelfDefense even in self defence]]'', unless you have a hero license. This is presented both as both extremely restrictive (particularly when Izuku and his friends technically broke the law to capture [[HeroKiller Stain]]) but necessary to prevent chaos.

* ''TabletopGame/LegendOfTheFiveRings'': Despite ghosts being relatively common in Rokugan, the legal system specifies that testimony from ghosts is inadmissible in court. They have no consequences for lying, and even honorable ghosts can be manipulated with magic. A few adventures and stories involve the PCs getting told by a ghost who killed them, and having to find other evidence to prove it.

* In ''Manga/MonsterMusume'', the "Extraspecies Cultural Exchange Act" has a provision that makes it illegal for a human to harm an extraspecies person or vice-versa (though the latter part is usually ignored for the sake of {{Slapstick}} against our unfortunate protagonist). This, of course, brings up issues with law enforcement, as human police officers are prohibited from arresting extraspecies criminals. M.O.N., a small, but specialized team of extraspecies officers created for the specific purpose of making extraspecies arrests, is effectively an ObviousRulesPatch.

* ''Fanfic/AmazingFantasy'': In the chaos of the appearance of Quirks, so many people tried to run around pretending to be superheroes (namely, ComicBook/SpiderMan) that [[DisneyOwnsThisTrope comic book companies went cease-and-desist-crazy]]. All Might casually grumbles at one point that his "Silver Age" costume became a casualty of [[SupermanSubstitute DC Comics]] and Izuku Midoriya (who gets powers from, and outright blessing from, [[WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse Spider-Man himself]]) gets an attempted strong-arm from Marvel Comics lawyers ([[TakeThat humanoid vultures]]).

* ''Fanfic/AmazingFantasy'': In the chaos of the appearance of Quirks, so many people tried to run around pretending to be superheroes (namely, ComicBook/SpiderMan) that [[DisneyOwnsThisTrope comic book companies went cease-and-desist-crazy]]. All Might casually grumbles at one point that his "Silver Age" costume became a casualty of [[SupermanSubstitute DC Comics]] and Izuku Midoriya (who gets powers from, and outright blessing from, [[WesternAnimation/SpiderManEnterTheSpiderVerse Spider-Man himself]]) gets an attempted strong-arm from Marvel Comics lawyers ([TakeThat humanoid vultures]]).