History Main / HollywoodLaw

** Additionally Powell claimed the incident happen "international waters" when in reality it was just one of the great lakes (given the show's setting either Lake Erie or Lake St. Clair) however this still means that which country it took place is still in question.

** The most obvious is that the law firm Jennifer works for, Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg, and Holliway, has, in their law library, at least for their super-human law division, nothing but boxes and boxes of Marvel comics. It is explained that, within the Marvel Universe, Marvel comics are all true, and are licensed by the superheroes who star in them, and, prior to 2002, were certified by UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode Authority, a government agency, and are therefore admissible in any courtroom in the United States. It's hard to know where to start with this one. First of all, the Comics Code Authority was never a government agency; it has always been a private ratings agency created by the comics industry itself. Secondly, even if it were a government agency, merely having a document certified by a government agency does not make it admissible, any more than does being licensed by the persons who star in the comics. Thirdly, and most importantly, even if there were no questions about the admissibility of Marvel comics into evidence, the comics are not a source of ''law''; they may be a source of ''facts'', but not law. A mere record of facts is only admissible if the facts are directly relevant to the case at hand. Also, facts recorded in a comic book would almost always be inadmissible as hearsay. The lawyers would have to provide some other source for the same facts to get them into evidence. This one, of course, is justified by RuleOfFunny and as a source of [[ContinuityNod Continuity Nods]].

* In the ''ComicBook/DickTracy'' video game, Tracy can only arrest the culprit of each case. He cannot arrest the suspects he approaches, despite them sending out thugs to try and kill him when he goes to confront them. Needless to say, in real life, they would be arrested for attempted murder by proxy.

[[folder: Manhwa]]
In ''Manhwa/LevelOnePlayer'', the in-universe Korean government and population really play fast and loose with the law, and everybody agrees that's how it is. Sure, some of it is justifiable as Players have super-natural powers and need to be held to a higher standard, but when Choi's family gets caught in the collateral damage of a CorruptPolitician who ''bills them'' for the money Choi sent them as living expenses while on the payroll, after filing ridiculous claims at what he presumed to be Choi's corpse, such as "Loss of Rented Equipment" ''that was lost in the line of duty'' and "Breach of Contract" ''as a result of dying while upholding the contract'', the lawyer the Choi family visits just goes "yeah, your only option is to petition to give up your inheritance, and hope that's enough to get out of the debt against you. Oh, and you have to vacate your family home immediately." Choi goes to the man responsible, Lee Hang-gu, and point blank asks him how such a (supposed) law makes any sense. Lee Hang-gu, for his part, just goes apoplectic and starts shouting insults about how Choi "thinks he's special despite doing nothing but just eating and shitting."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

** On TV, if the minor swears they were of age, and the defendant had every reason to believe them, then that's considered a defence. In real life, it is not -- again, "statutory" means ''statutory'' -- and "mistake of fact" is generally not a defence. A "mistake of fact" defense is sometimes allowed, where the defendant can argue the minor had reasonably seemed older (for example, meeting someone at a bar when the law states you have to be 21 or over to get in). That does not mean it will always succeed of course, and many jurisdictions don't allow this at all. Some jurisdictions may have a "Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet exception" where one party is a minor and the other is not but less than a year older, but many do not, and a number even have such exceptions for heterosexual couples but not homosexuals (or have different ages of consent for them). It's sex -- people have hangups.

* In ''Comicbook/{{Manhunter}}'', Kate Spencer's prosecution of Shadow Thief for the murder of Ron Raymond, aka ComicBook/{{Firestorm|DCComics}}, is ludicrous. It's hard to know where to begin, but consider the fact that Spencer calls a bunch of superheroes to testify without giving their real names without first showing that they or their families would have been in danger. Under ''United States v. Ramos-Cruz'', _ F.3d _ (4th Cir. Jan. 18, 2012); ''United States v. Zelaya'', 336 F. App’x 355 (4th Cir. 2009); and ''United States v. Gutierrez de Lopez'', a witness may testify anonymously only if the prosecution can show that the witnesses or their families would be in danger otherwise (but see the note below), although the issue would be whether an anonymous witness violates either the confrontation clause or due process, and a statute cannot override a constitutional provision. Secondly, most of the witnesses weren't even legitimate witnesses in the first place: they didn't actually see the crime committed, and she just asked them questions about what a hero Firestorm was, and what a great guy he was. None of that would be relevant at trial, although some of it might be allowed at a sentencing hearing, if Shadow Thief were convicted. The bizarre part is that there were other superheroes who were present at the crime and saw it happen, at least one of whom, Comicbook/{{Vixen}}, has a public identity and could have been called as a witness; needless to say, she wasn't.[[note]]In fact, though, trial law in the DCU has been modified to allow superheroes to testify without revealing their identities; this was established in 1985's ''Tales of the Teen Titans #53'' by Marv Wolfman and Rich Buckler, if not earlier. The other points absolutely stand, though.[[/note]]
* In one issue of ''Comicbook/{{Daredevil}}'', a judge appointed under ComicBook/NormanOsborn overruled a "not guilty" verdict in a criminal trial and sent the innocent defendants to prison, ignoring 1000 years of legal precedent and the US constitution. To be fair, the Franchise/MarvelUniverse during ''Comicbook/DarkReign'' seemed to be a fascist dictatorship under Osborn, so the law probably changed to allow this verdict (which is otherwise ''completely'' illegal and unconstitutional in our world). Osborn getting that job he had in the first place, long after being exposed and jailed for being a superhuman homicidal maniac, whose standard M.O. was flying around a city throwing bombs and who once planned to murder ''all life on Earth'', is however a pretty straight example. You become ineligible for most and/or all political offices, especially at higher levels, if you've committed a felony, and Osborn was never pardoned. Oddly enough, you do ''not'' become ineligible for the US Presidency. Numerous felons (mostly political activists like Eugene Debs or Leonard Peltier) have run for President while in prison for a felony conviction (Peltier is even serving two life sentences for murder, but if elected [[LoopholeAbuse he could]] pardon ''himself'', so no worries there).
* ''Comicbook/GreenArrow'':

* A [[Comicbook/ThePunisher Punisher]] story made hash of the InsanityDefense by having a judge not remand the Punisher for psychiatric examination, but simply decreeing that he was "insane" on the basis of counsel's rhetoric (and over his vehement objection).

* ''Literature/TheSuperdictionary'': In the entry for "judge", the judge pronounces the Penguin guilty. Juries pronounce people guilty, and judges only give the sentence (except if they have a bench trial, where the defendant waives their right to a jury, which rarely happens).

** Which brings us to how they lost all their money -- not content with suing Sterling, the Digital Homicide attempted to sue 100 anonymous UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} users for criticizing their games. Not knowing their identities, Digital Homicide went to Creator/{{Valve|Corporation}} and demanded that they divulge the users' identities. Valve not only stood by their users' right to criticize Digital Homicide's games, they also found the demands so outrageous that they removed all DH games from Steam -- which was their only source of revenue. This drove them out of business quickly.