History Main / JuryOfTheDamned

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' episode "Harmony Steals the Show", Harmony Smurf is put on trial by a jury of (generic) ghost musicians and composers in a dispute about being in a [[DealWithTheDevil legally-bound contract]] that allowed him to use a ghost's original symphony as his own in exchange for being that ghost's eternal spectral nightclub performer; only the ghost making the charge against Harmony is found guilty of UsefulNotes/{{plagiarism}} when the "original symphony" he claimed he created was revealed to be musical pieces stolen from other musicians.

* A ''Series/FatherDowlingMysteries'' episode had Father Frank Dowling being the defending counsel in such a situation.

* In ''Film/ShortcutToHappiness'' (a SettingUpdate of ''Literature/TheDevilAndDanielWebster''), the jurors in Stone's trial are dead authors, including CreatorTrumanCapote, Jacqueline Susann, Creator/ErnestHemingway, Mario Puzo, Creator/CharlotteBronte, and Creator/JamesJoyce.

This has been played with many times in homages, pastiches and parodies of ''The Devil and Daniel Webster'', although some modern viewers [[WeirdAlEffect may not know what the original source was]].

* In ''Whiz Comics'' #43 Ibis defends Eric Winthrop, a friend whose acting career was due to a deal he was tricked into making with the Devil a year ago. The Devil is convinced to give a trial and summons the man's 'peers in evil'. The Judges are Nero, Brutus and Robespierre, and the Jury are 'Thieves! Sweepings of the Gutter! Renegades!' The Devil tells them he expects the verdict to be guilty. Ibis brings back memory of the courts crimes forcing them to flee from Earth as they cannot face this.

* In ''Film/ShortcutToHappiness'' (a SettingUpdate of ''Literature/TheDevilAndDanielWebster''), the jurors in Stone's trial are dead authors, including Truman Capote, Jacqueline Susann, Creator/ErnestHemingway, Mario Puzo, Creator/CharlotteBronte, and Creator/JamesJoyce.

* ''Literature/TheBarsoomProject'' features a sequence where the PlayerCharacters are put on trial by the [[AnthropomorphicPersonification manifestations]] of humanity's sins and crimes as defined by the literal themepark version of the Eskimo religion.

-->'''Nixon:''' But I'm not dead yet![[note]][[LongRunners Indeed, he was very much alive when the episode aired over 20 years ago.]][[/note]] In fact, I just wrote an article for Redbook. Anybody see it?\\

'''Nixon:''' Yes, master.

** [[spoiler:Fluttercruel]] ends up in one of these after what appeared to be her death, with a court of demonic shadows ruling on whether or not she should exist. [[spoiler:The find her guilty, but she [[EscapedFromHell fights her way out of it]] to help the heroes defeat [[BigBad Princess Gaia/Nightmare Whisper]] and fix the mess she was responsible for.]] Its left ambiguous as to whether or not this was real or all in her head.
** [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTales Starlight]] finds herself in one after dying in the G2 Era's Class 2 apocalypse, being on trial for her role in said apocalypse. Her Defense Attorney is an unnamed Alicorn version of her and the Prosecutor is a foal. In an unusual case, she's both the defendant ''and'' the judge, with Judicium, the Alicorn of Judgment, serving as her adviser. [[spoiler:She finds herself guilty at the end. In another twist, her Defense Attorney was actually [[{{Satan}} Havoc]], the DimensionLord of Hell, and that declaring herself innocent would've condemned her because it means she's refusing to accept responsibility for her actions. The Prosecutor was actually [[{{God}} the Father of All Alicorns]], the DimensionLord of Heaven who was trying to get her to accept that responsibility and ask forgiveness so he could give it and let her into Heaven.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' episode "Night Ghoulery" ("The Devil and Daniel Webfoot" segment).

* In ''Whiz Comics'' #43 Ibis defends Eric Winthrop, a friend whose acting career was due to a deal he was tricked into making with the Devil a year ago. The Devil is convinced to give a trial and summons the man's 'peers in evil'. The Judges are Nero, Brutus and Robespierre, and the Jury are 'Thieves! Sweepings of the Gutter! Renegades!' The Devil tells them he expects the verdict to be guilty. Ibis brings back memory of the courts crimes forcing them to flee from Earth as they cannot face this.

* There is an animated version of ''Literature/TheDevilAndDanielWebster'' titled ''WesternAnimation/TheDevilAndDanielMouse''.

* The originator of this trope was the short story ''Literature/TheDevilAndDanielWebster'' by Stephen Vincent Benet, in which the jury consists of (as well as four unnamed and a TakeThat against someone the author knew) two Loyalists, a tyrannical governor of colonial Virginia, the founder of a pagan colony in Massachusetts, and Blackbeard; the judge comes straight from the Salem Witch Trials.

* In the Literature/{{Xanth}} book ''Heaven Cent'', Prince Dolph has to protect the skeleton Grace'l Ossein from one of these, though it's less a jury of the damned and more a jury of characters met earlier in the book.
* Implied to be the case in Creator/JosephSheridanLeFanu's "Mr. Justice Harbottle," where the title character, a HangingJudge, winds up on trial in the High Court of Appeal in the Kingdom of Life and Death. [[spoiler:It doesn't help that the Judge is on trial before a monstrous version of ''himself.'']]

* ''Series/TheMonkees'' episode "The Devil and Peter Tork". When Peter unwittingly sells his soul to Mr. Zero for the ability to play the harp, the band challenges whether the contract is valid. The Monkees' beach pad becomes a bizarre underworld courtroom, where Hanging Judge Roy Bean presides with a jury consisting of 12 condemned men from Devil's Island. All of the witnesses Zero summons are also damned souls: Billy the Kid, Blackbeard, and Attila the Hun.

* ''Series/SwampThing'' TV series: Anton Arcane complains that the jury is not impartial, as they all know him well.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' episode "Harmony Steals the Show", Harmony Smurf is put on trial by a jury of (generic) ghost musicians and composers in a dispute about being in a [[DealWithTheDevil legally-bound contract]] that allowed him to use a ghost's original symphony as his own in exchange for being that ghost's eternal spectral nightclub performer; only the ghost making the charge against Harmony is found guilty of UsefulNotes/{{plagiarism}} when the "original symphony" he claimed he created was revealed to be musical pieces stolen from other musicians.
* The Nelvana production ''WesternAnimation/TheDevilAndDanielMouse'' sees a jury of the damned. The Devil himself supplies three demons to sit as jurors, and when Daniel complains that a jury requires twelve persons, the demons split into several copies until there are twelve.

* The 2001 film version, [[DevelopmentHell released in 2007,]] ''Shortcut To Happiness'' [[SettingUpdate transfers the story to modern-day Las Vegas]].
* There is an animated version titled ''The Devil and Daniel Mouse''.

* In ''Film/ShortcutToHappiness'' (a SettingUpdate of ''Literature/TheDevilAndDanielWebster''), the jurors in Stone's trial are dead authors, including Truman Capote, Jacqueline Susann, Ernest Hemingway, Mario Puzo, Charlotte Bronte, and James Joyce.

* In ''Film/ShortcutToHappiness'' (a SettingUpdate of ''Literaure/TheDevilAndDanielWebster''), the jurors in Stone's trial are dead authors, including Truman Capote, Jacqueline Susann, Ernest Hemingway, Mario Puzo, Charlotte Bronte, and James Joyce.

* ''Series/TheMonkees'' episode "The Devil and Peter Tork".
* ''Series/TheGhostAndMrsMuir'' episode "Not So Faust".

* Implied to be the case in Literature/JosephSheridanLeFanu's "Mr. Justice Harbottle," where the title character, a HangingJudge, winds up on trial in the High Court of Appeal in the Kingdom of Life and Death. [[spoiler:It doesn't help that the Judge is on trial before a monstrous version of ''himself.'']]

* Implied to be the case in J. S. Le Fanu's "Mr. Justice Harbottle," where the title character, a HangingJudge, winds up on trial in the High Court of Appeal in the Kingdom of Life and Death. [[spoiler: It doesn't help that the Judge is on trial before a monstrous version of ''himself.'']]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/devil_daniel_webster_trial_160.jpg]]

->''Dan'l Webster had faced some hard juries and hanging judges in his time, but this was the hardest he'd ever faced, and he knew it. They sat there with a kind of glitter in their eyes, and the stranger's smooth voice went on and on. Every time he'd raise an objection, it'd be "Objection sustained", but whenever Dan'l objected, it'd be "Objection denied". Well, you couldn't expect fair play from a fellow like this Mr. Scratch.''

This has been played with many times in homages, pastiches and parodies of ''The Devil And Daniel Webster'', although some modern viewers [[WeirdAlEffect may not know what the original source was]].

!!Examples

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[[folder: Film ]]

* In the 1946 movie ''Film/AMatterOfLifeAndDeath'', Englishman Peter Carter is put on a trial before a celestial jury to determine whether he has the right to remain on Earth. The prosecutor is American Abraham Farlan, who hates the British for causing his death in the American Revolutionary War. Carter's defender, Doctor Reeves, challenges the composition of the jury, which is made up of representatives who are prejudiced against the British: a Napoleonic French officer, a Boer soldier from the Boer War, a Russian killed in the Crimean War, an Indian killed in the annexation of the Punjab, a Chinese man who died in the Boxer Rebellion, and an Irishman from the early 20th Century.
** When the British advocate allows the jury to be replaced with Americans, each is replaced by someone of the same national origin but an American citizen, such as an Irish-American policeman and a French-American chef. The only difference, and a rather odd one, is the Indian is replaced by an African-American GI

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[[folder: Tabletop Games]]

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[[folder: Web Comics ]]

* Richard in ''Webcomic/LookingForGroup'' is held in court to be judged by his peers -- the damned, who don't think he's living up to his damnation. [[spoiler: Subverted in that they don't have the power to enforce their ruling after all.]]
** Or [[http://lfgcomic.com/page/533 did they?]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode 'Treehouse of Horror IV' ("The Devil and Homer Simpson" segment), when Homer sold his soul for a doughnut, included a jury consisting of John Wilkes Booth, Lizzie Borden, John Dillinger, Blackbeard, Benedict Arnold, the starting lineup of the [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking 1976 Philadelphia Flyers]] (popularly known as the "Broad Street Bullies" because they were famed for their [[UnnecessaryRoughness violent play]]), and UsefulNotes/RichardNixon.
-->'''Nixon:''' But I'm not dead yet![[note]][[LongRunners Indeed, he was very much alive when the episode aired over 20 years ago.]][[/note]] In fact, I just wrote an article for Redbook. Anybody see it?
-->'''Satan (Flanders):''' Hey, I did a favor for ''you!''\\

* In ''WesternAnimation/TrippingTheRift'' episode "The Devil and a guy called Webster", Chode sells his soul to Satan. To get out of paying what he owes, the crew intends to travel back in time to the 1880s to hire Daniel Webster to represent him. Unfortunately, they accidentally travel to the ''19''80s, and brink back Emmanuel Lewis (aka Series/{{Webster}}). Incredibly, he still manages to win the case.
** [[ArtisticLicenseHistory They would have still been off by about 50-60 years anyway.]]

* In ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules'', Zeus is put on trial by Pluto with a jury of dead supervillains, including [[http://the-isb.blogspot.com/2006/01/profiles-in-courage-tiger-man.html the Armless Tiger Man]].

In ''Literature/TheDevilAndDanielWebster'' by Stephen Vincent Benet when Daniel Webster is defending his client Jabez Stone against the Devil, he demands the right to a trial with an American judge and jury. The Devil agrees, provided he gets to choose the judge and jury. He provides a jury of traitors and murderers to sit in judgment on Stone.

* The 2001 film version, released in 2007, ''Shortcut To Happiness'' [[SettingUpdate transfers the story to modern-day Las Vegas]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' episode "Harmony Steals the Show", Harmony Smurf is put on trial by a jury of (generic) ghost musicians and composers in a dispute about being in a [[DealWithTheDevil legally-bound contract]] that allowed him to use a ghost's original symphony as his own in exchange for being that ghost's eternal spectral nightclub performer; only the ghost making the charge against Harmony is found guilty of {{plagiarism}} when the "original symphony" he claimed he created was revealed to be musical pieces stolen from other musicians.

* ''The Barsoom Project'', sequel to Creator/LarryNiven's ''Literature/DreamPark'', features a sequence where the PlayerCharacters are put on trial by the [[AnthropomorphicPersonification manifestations]] of humanity's sins and crimes as defined by the literal themepark version of the Eskimo religion.

-->''Dan'l Webster had faced some hard juries and hanging judges in his time, but this was the hardest he'd ever faced, and he knew it. They sat there with a kind of glitter in their eyes, and the stranger's smooth voice went on and on. Every time he'd raise an objection, it'd be "Objection sustained", but whenever Dan'l objected, it'd be "Objection denied". Well, you couldn't expect fair play from a fellow like this Mr. Scratch.''
-->'''Stephen Vincent Benet''', ''The Devil and Daniel Webster''

-->'''Satan (Flanders):''' Hey, I did a favor for ''you!''
-->'''Nixon:''' Yes, master.

* In ''TrippingTheRift'' episode "The Devil and a guy called Webster", Chode sells his soul to Satan. To get out of paying what he owes, the crew intends to travel back in time to the 1880s to hire Daniel Webster to represent him. Unfortunately, they accidentally travel to the ''19''80s, and brink back Emmanuel Lewis (aka {{Webster}}). Incredibly, he still manages to win the case.
* In ''TheSmurfs'' episode "Harmony Steals the Show", Harmony Smurf is put on trial by a jury of (generic) ghost musicians and composers in a dispute about being in a [[DealWithTheDevil legally-bound contract]] that allowed him to use a ghost's original symphony as his own in exchange for being that ghost's eternal spectral nightclub performer; only the ghost making the charge against Harmony is found guilty of {{plagiarism}} when the "original symphony" he claimed he created was revealed to be musical pieces stolen from other musicians.

* ''WesternAnimation/TinyToons'' episode "Night Ghoulery" ("The Devil and Daniel Webfoot" segment).

* In ''OnePiece'', on the island where the World Government's justice is passed, the accused goes before a judge and jury. The jury are all convicts who have, so far, ''never'' passed a not-guilty verdict, on the grounds that they all want to take as many people with them as they can.

* ''TheMonkees'' episode "The Devil and Peter Tork".

* The originator of this trope was the short story ''Literature/TheDevilAndDanielWebster'' by Stephen Vincent Benet.