History Main / ScrewTheRulesItsTheApocalypse

* Jewish law has the concept of "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pikuach_nefesh pikuach nefesh]]," which says that Jews are allowed to violate the tenets of their religion if it means saving someone's life i.e. driving a vehicle on the Sabbath, when the vehicle is an ambulance. This even applies to Orthodox Jews.

* An episode of ''{{Series/Sliders}}'' had a meteor about to hit [[AlternateUniverse the Earth]] [[ForWantOfANail with]] [[NuclearWeaponsTaboo no]] [[NukeEm way to stop it]], cue everyone on the planet saying this. Including 3 of 4 main characters.

* Van Zant and his crony Smitty from ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' wind up stealing whatever they can and gunning down anyone in the way in the wake of Majin Buu making humanity face extinction. Then they get the bright idea to try to kill Buu, either so to claim a bounty or so they don't have to stop terrorizing people (it depends on the version) and wind up shooting Hercule and Bee dead, which results in the creation of Super Buu who [[AssholeVictim gives them two of the most gruesome deaths in the series]].

* Jewish law has the concept of "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pikuach_nefesh pikuach nefesh]]," which says that Jews are allowed to violate the tenets of their religion if it means saving someone's life. This even applies to Orthodox Jews.

* ''Film/WarOfTheWorlds'': In the attempt to run away from the Martians, people have no trouble looting vehicles and food, breaking into apparently safe places and causing riots and committing murder to achieve any of the above. [[Film/TheWarOfTheWorlds In the 1953 film version]], this is even indirectly responsible for the original story's DeusExMachina ending to occur (and be actually needed, from a Doylist point of view)--rioting Los Angeles residents steal vehicles to escape, without knowing nor caring that scientific equipment vital to fight the Martians was loaded into them.
--->'''Dr. Clayton Forrester''': "They (the Angelenos) have cut their own throats!"

** In the episode "In the Pale Moonlight", Benjamin Sisko lies, bribes criminals, covers up the crimes of other criminals, and was an accessory to murder in order to bring the Romulans into the Dominion War on the side of the Federation. He says 'I can live with it' because the Federation was losing and their way of life was in danger of being destroyed.
** Another episode is named 'Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges,' the Roman term meaning 'in times of war the law falls silent.' In it the Federation again uses morally dubious means to ensure continued Romulan support for the war effort, including the framing of an innocent woman.
* Not the apocalypse, per se, but the same principle applies to the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "The Omega Directive". Normally only reserved for captains, Janeway is forced to tell the senior officers about it when the ship detects the omega particle, which has the ability to destroy space, and as a result, would cause the ship to lose the ability to go to warp forever, making it take even longer for the ship--which is stranded in the Delta Quadrant--to get back the Alpha Quadrant (and the Federation). Why does this trope apply, because it is the one directive that allows the Captain to ignore the [[AlienNonInterferenceClause Prime Directive]], since the problem is that bad.

** Supernatural will subvert this as it shows that the boys often do more harm than good by going against the natural order, unwritten rules and advice of more experienced creatures. (Turns out rules are there for good reasons) Season 4 Sam for example, was slowly turning into a HeWhoFightsMonsters who [[spoiler: [[NicejobBreakingItHero ends up causing the apocalypse.]]]]

* ''Series/{{The 100}}'' has the characters [[TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed constantly facing the possibility that their civilization could be destroyed]]. In the face of that, Kane is pretty much the only character who worries about upholding the law; everyone else just takes it as a given that the rules will have to be ignored.

[[folder:Literature]]
* Literature/HarryPotter is no stranger to breaking the school's rules, thanks to having some kind of terrible danger strike the castle every year.
** The Unforgivable Curses normally result in an automatic life sentence to Azkaban, but once Voldemort declares open war on the wizarding world and threatens the Muggle world, no one has a problem with the heroes using the Cruciatus curse (which, as its name suggests, causes extreme pain and is potentially fatal), or the Imperius curse (which is a nasty mind-control spell) in order to fight these people. There's no confirmed cases of them using the Killing Curse, although it is known that Bellatrix Lestrange died instantly when a curse from Molly Weasley struck her.
* Shea and Wilson's ''Literature/{{Illuminatus}}'' is all about thwarting the eschatological intentions of the bad guys. If averting the end of the world means a hundred thousand people need to have their minds enhanced by being given an LSD trip without their knowledge or permission, then so be it... and (BilingualBonus) the bad guys even have the motto ''Der Zweck heiligt die Mittel''[[note]]"the ends justify the means"[[/note]]. At one point there is a submarine battle in the ruins of Atlantis, where the nearest thing to a good guy, Hagbard Celine, has to reluctantly set aside his pacifism and sink the would be world-enders' submarine craft, called ''Der Zweck'' and ''Die Mittel''.
* This appears as a minor bit of world-building in Weis and Hickman's ''Starshield'' novels. Essentially, physics isn't the same everywhere; here's it's Newtonian, here Aristotelian, while over there it's a kind of magic that uses demons, but over there it's incantations. The borders for the different physics aren't fixed, and whenever one moves over a populated system, one of two things happens. Either they don't already know about it and treat it as an apocalyptic event and societies collapse, or they ''do'' know about it, the authorities prepare, and it's treated as a minor hiccup, like changing from driving on the left to the right (though teenagers do try new kinds of vandalism).
* In ''Literature/TheSpiritThief'', the spirits are forbidden from talking about the important apocalyptic thing that might be happenning again by their goddess, but as the Shepherdess is becoming more and more neglectful and self-absorbed while the world begins to burn around her, they're breaking this rule to help the heroes stop the apocalypse.
* ''Literature/TheZombieSurvivalGuide'' mentions this in the segment dedicated to building a safe-haven to survive the ZombieApocalypse, cautioning the reader that "Keep Out" and "No Trespassing" signs or fences will only keep people out ''before'' all hell has broken loose and all bets are off.
[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'' has a lesser-scale moment, with the party escaping [[ImplacableMan the Yokai]]. [[SuperOCD Wasabi]] drives in compliance with the traffic regulations... to the point he stops at a red traffic light, only to get chewed out by [=GoGo=] (who proceeds to [[DrivesLikeCrazy take over the steering wheel]] shortly afterwards):

** The Unforgivable Curses normally result in an automatic life sentence to Azkaban, but once Voldemort declares open war on the wizarding world and threatens the Muggle world, no one has a problem with the heroes using the Cruciatus curse (which, as its name suggests, causes extreme pain and is potentially fatal), or the Imperius curse (which is a nasty mind-control spell) in order to fight these people, though none of them use the Killing curse.
* Shea and Wilson's ''Literature/{{Illuminatus}}'' is all about thwarting the eschatalogical intentions of the bad guys. If averting the end of the world means a hundred thousand people need to have their minds enhanced by being given an LSD trip without their knowledge or permission, then so be it... and (BilingualBonus) the bad guys even have the motto ''Der Zweck heiligt die Mittel''[[note]]"the ends justify the means"[[/note]]. At one point there is a submarine battle in the ruins of Atlantis, where the nearest thing to a good guy, Hagbard Celine, has to reluctantly set aside his pacifism and sink the would be world-enders' submarine craft, called ''Der Zweck'' and ''Die Mittel''.

* U.S. criminal law has the doctrine of Necessity. If a defendant can show that it was necessary to break the law in order to prevent some greater harm from occurring they can be found not guilty for that reason. This only applies if the defendant (a) had no reasonable alternative (b) ceased committing the illegal act as soon as it was no longer necessary and (c) wasn't responsible for the dangerous situation in the first place. More at Wiki/{{Wikipedia}}'s [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necessity_(criminal_law) article on Necessity]].

** The Unforgivable Curses normally result in an automatic life sentence to Azkaban, but once Voldemort declares open war on the wizarding world and threatens the Muggle world, no one has a problem with the heroes using the Cruciatus curse (which, as its name suggests, causes extreme pain and is potentially fatal) in order to fight these people.

* Due to the Elite's strict honour code and how the humans have been labeled heretics, Covenant soldiers in ''{{Franchise/Halo}}'' are typically forbidden from using human weaponry. Fan-made [[GameMod custom campaign]] ''VideoGame/SPV3'' flips this notion on its head during the levels ''Two Betrayals'' and ''Keyes'' with the introduction of the Savage Covenant; Covenant infantry (barring Elites and Hunters) who, lacking very few working Covenant weapons, have taken to arming themselves with scavenged Human weapons out of fear of being overrun by the Flood.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' has the title quote, where Mako burns traffic tickets. As a police officer himself, he should know that [[ToBeLawfulOrGood it's better to be good than lawful in this situation]].

* ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'' has a moment with the party escaping the Yokai. [[SuperOCD Wasabi]] drives in compliance with the traffic regulations... to the point he stops at a red traffic light, only to get chewed out by GoGo (who proceeds to [[DrivesLikeCrazy take over the steering wheel]] shortly afterwards):
-->'''GoGo:''' ''THERE ARE NO TRAFFIC LIGHTS IN A CAR CHASE!''

* ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'' has a moment with the party escaping the Yokai. Wasabi drives in compliance with the traffic regulations... until he stops at a red traffic light, only to get chewed out by Gogo (who proceeds to [[DrivesLikeCrazy take over the steering wheel]] shortly afterwards):
-->'''Gogo:''' ''THERE ARE NO TRAFFIC LIGHTS IN A CAR CHASE!''

[[folder:Film]]

* One comic strip of The Far Side showed two men fishing. When a [[NukeEm mushroom cloud appears in the distance]], one of the fishermen says to the other:
-->''"I'll tell ya what it means, Clem. No size restrictions and screw the limit!"''

* ''Film/WarOfTheWorlds'': In the attempt to run away from the Martians, people have no trouble looting vehicles and food, breaking into apparently safe places and causing riots and committing murder to achieve any of the above. [[Film/TheWarOfTheWorlds In the 1955 film version]], this is even indirectly responsible for the original story's DeusExMachina ending to occur (and be actually needed, from a Doylist point of view)--rioting Los Angeles residents steal vehicles to escape, without knowing nor caring that scientific equipment vital to fight the Martians was loaded into them.